Dulipsingh L, Bakeri H, Wakefield D, et al. - In comparison with individuals without diabetes, individuals with diabetes and congestive heart failure have longer lengths of stay. Primary care providers and hospitals need to implement guidelines regarding the management of care for individuals with two or more chronic conditions to decrease the economic burden of diabetes and chronic conditions.

• Researchers examined a total of 48,572 individuals.

• The results showed that individuals with diabetes had similar total admission costs when compared with patients without diabetes of similar age, gender, race, risk of mortality, and severity of illness and controlling for length of stay.

• They found similar lengths of stay for individuals with and without diabetes admitted with a diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease or respiratory infection.

• Nevertheless, individuals with a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure and a secondary diagnosis of diabetes incurred longer lengths of stay.