Calculate Benefits and Costs

Of the average $13,700 annual medical costs of a person with diabetes, about $7,900 is directly attributable to the disease. On the other hand, the average annual cost of offering a lifestyle change program that can cut a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes in half is about $500, depending on factors such as promotion, recruitment, staff, facilities, and logistics costs.

Just how much can diabetes prevention programs save? To help employers, insurers, and state health departments weigh the costs and benefits of National DPP lifestyle change programs, CDC has developed the Diabetes Prevention Impact Toolkit. This online tool provides estimates of:

• Total cost of delivering a National DPP or similar lifestyle change program to a covered population
• Total health benefit resulting from the program
• Life years gained and quality-adjusted life years saved
• Cost-effectiveness of the lifestyle change program
• Return on investment, if applicable

Users can get results based on default values for their target population or enter customized values that reflect their own population and program experience. Users can also customize the toolkit’s results to show the most relevant data for their needs. Explore the Diabetes Prevention Impact Toolkit.

To learn more about the Impact Toolkit and how to use it, take a look at the following resources:

• Fact sheet [PDF – 2 MB]
• Quick Start Guide [PDF – 710 KB]
• Tutorial video

The Impact Toolkit also provides resources to help communicate results to decision makers, stakeholders, and others:

• Results Infographic template [PPT – 875 KB] | PDF [PDF – 640 KB]
• Results PowerPoint template [PPT – 2 MB] | PDF [PDF – 207 KB]

Sources

Li R, Qu S, Zhang P, Chattopadhyay S, Gregg EW, Albright A, et al. Economic evaluation of combined diet and physical activity promotion programs to prevent type 2 diabetes among persons at increased risk: a systematic review for the Community Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med. 2015; 163. doi:10.7326/M15-0469.

Smith J. YMCA prediabetes program results in weight loss, lower costs. Clinical Endocrinology News. June 26, 2015. Available from http://www.mdedge.com/clinicalendocrinologynews/article/100816/diabetes/ymca-prediabetes-program-results-weight-loss-lower.

Yang W, Dall TM, Halder P, Gallo P, Kowal SL, Hogan PF. Economic costs of diabetes in the U.S. in 2012. Diabetes Care 2013;36(4):1033–1046. Available from http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/4/1033.full.pdf+html.