Abstract
Patients with diabetes in rural underserved areas Richard J. Santen, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, delineates the characteristics of patients with diabetes residing in rural underserved areas, including the role of meal replacements for weight loss. Patients with diabetes residing in rural, economically challenged and medically underserved areas generally lack endocrinologists for consultative evaluation and management. (1,2) One solution to the problem is recruiting retired endocrinologists to care for these patients by telemedicine. This can be facilitated by partnering with rural, community health clinics. In the United States, a Federal program funds 1,400 rural clinics and supports the providers and clinical educators to instruct patients regarding diabetes mellitus management, nutrition, laboratory testing, and radiology. My experience over the last six years, as a partially retired endocrinologist, indicates that such a program is beneficial and results in lowering the hemoglobin A1c levels in patients with diabetes (3).
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