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Is diabetes education truly profitable?
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Yes, but educators must explore other money-making opportunities
As diabetes educators, we need to be conscious of the economic realities. We can’t just show up at the office or hospital and expect the program to keep running; it does not happen naturally. Whether the department head or the last dietician on the totem pole, we must be creative and find ways to generate revenue for the program because it can shut down at a moment’s notice, and this is happening all over.
Diabetes educators have to think like Michael Jordan. When he played in the NBA his salary was not huge compared to today’s standards, but he made hundreds of millions of dollars a year on endorsements and acting and speaking engagements. Diabetes education is our core business but can lead us into other opportunities, such as serving on speaker bureaus, doing pump and meter trainings, writing, over-the-counter product sales through the office and so on. It is one thing to bring in revenue and another to make a profit. Diabetes educators must closely watch expenses. Many centers put themselves in a situation where they cannot succeed because they are buried by rent and management costs and wastes money on expensive things that can kill a program.
 Gary Scheiner |
Patients at my office pay out-of-pocket. There are enough people with diabetes who want good help and are willing to pay out-of-pocket, so I built my practice based on that. Originally, I tried billing through insurance but the time I spent on paperwork and on the phone with insurers was not feasible. Now, I can keep my fees reasonable and be flexible with patients because I have other sources of income, such as speaking engagements and serving on advisory panels.
Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE, is Owner and Director of Integrated Diabetes Services in Wynnewood, Pa.
Yes, but educators must think like a business, act like a business
For diabetes education to be profitable, educators really have to think and act like a business. Like the ‘Got Milk’ slogan, I call it ‘Get Corporate.’ Under the umbrella of ‘getting corporate,’ educators have to use the law of accumulation, which takes into account the five P’s (product, place, promotion, patient-centeredness, perks) and the three F’s (format, finances, fees). The more P’s and F’s an educator uses, the greater likelihood the program will be financially profitable.
 Mary Ann Hodorowicz |
We have to shift our mental paradigm. The concept of product includes expanding diabetes self-management education and medical nutrition therapy to include consumer seminars on hot topics, such as preventing/controlling prediabetes and CVD and incorporating fee-for-service group programs for weight-loss, exercise and changing eating behaviors; place involves bringing the product to patients and physicians; promotion means extensive marketing and communication; patient-centeredness utilizes individualized patient care and goals; and perks add consumer incentives to complete programs, such as a discount card for diabetes-related goods and services to use with local merchants. In addition, the format concept makes comprehensive systems changes and implements key components of the Chronic Care Model; finances helps maintain tight financial control systems and procedures, especially with the collection of patient co-payments, deductibles and balances; and fees help set up appropriate pricing for programs.
Diabetes educators must market, market, market. Think of your patients as consumers. Spend as much time marketing your program to physicians and patients as you do developing your protocols. Patients and physicians will not come knocking at your diabetes door if they do not know where you are.
However, there is another perspective on defining a program’s ‘profitability.’ All of your programs can be considered profitable for the external stakeholders. Diabetes self-management education and medical nutrition therapy do improve overall patients’ health, do lower health care costs for the patients and do reduce health care costs from diabetes complications for insurers and the health care system. Remember that every drop that goes in the bucket will ultimately fill it to the brim.
Mary Ann Hodorowicz, RD, LDN, MBA, CDE, is Owner of Mary Ann Hodorowicz Consulting, LLC., in Palos Heights, Ill.