Rates and estimated cost of primary care consultations in people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and comorbidities: A retrospective analysis of 8.9 million consultations

Aims To determine whether telephone and face-to-face primary care consultation rates, costs, and temporal trends during 2000 to 2018 differed by the number of comorbidities in people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods A total of 120 409 adults with newly diagnosed T2DM between 2000 and 2018 were classified by the number of prevalent and incident comorbidities. Data on face-to-face and telephone primary care consultations with a nurse or physician were obtained. Crude and sex- and age-adjusted annual consultation rates and associated costs were calculated based on the number of comorbidities at the time of consultation. Results The crude rate of face-to-face primary care consultations for patients without comorbidities was 10.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.3-10.4) per person-year, 12.7 (95% CI 12.7-12.7) for patients with one comorbidity, 15.1 (95% CI 15.1-15.2) for those with two comorbidities, and 18.7 (95% CI 18.7-18.8) for those with three or more comorbidities. The mean annual inflation-adjusted cost for face-to-face consultations was 412.70 pound per patient without comorbidities, 516.80 pound for one comorbidity, 620.75 pound for two comorbidities, and 778.83 pound for three or more comorbidities. The age- and sex-adjusted face-to-face consultation rate changed by an average of -3.3% (95% CI -4.4 to -2.3) per year from 2000 to 2018 for patients without comorbidities, -2.7% (95% CI -4.0 to -1.3) for those with one comorbidity, -2.2% (95% CI -3.3 to -1.2) for those with two comorbidities, and -4.3% (95% CI -8.7 to +0.3) for those with three or more comorbidities. Conclusions Although consultation rates for all patients decreased from 2000 to 2018, there was a significant disparity between the rate for patients with and without comorbidities. Patients with T2DM and comorbidities may require different models of service delivery.