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Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists

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Learn More About DEAP

You may have already been offering a form of diabetes education at your facility and are wondering about taking that next step. Getting accredited takes some time but is has several benefits that will increase the value not only to your organization, but to the individuals it serves.

DSMES National Standards (2022)-NEW! | Interpretive Guidance - NEW! | Pricing 
Additional Sites | DSMES Consensus Report

NEW! 2022 Update to the National Standards for DSMES

The 2022 update to the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) is published! These guidelines, updated every five years, provide guidance for all accredited and recognized DSMES services. The latest version of the standards have just been published in the February 2022 issue of The Science of Diabetes Self-Management and Care and Diabetes Care.

Read the Standards

Want a quick summary? Read a blog post from Sacha Uelmen, RDN, CDCES, ADCES Director of Diabetes Education & Prevention Programs

FAQs

Interested in Learning More About DEAP

  • How do I know if my program is eligible to apply for accreditation?

    A DSMT program is eligible for accreditation if it provides “out-patient” services that have fully implemented the National Standards for DSMES.  The program must already be up and running and you must have taken at least one participant through your program from beginning to completion (based on your definition of completion).  Your target population’s needs should be considered as you decide on your definition.  If you can design your program to match your population’s needs as closely as possible, you will be more successful.  Here are a few examples of definition of completion (best to base on attendance and not achievement of goals): 

    1. completed their individualized, agreed upon education plan

    2. attended an individual assessment and at least 2 group sessions

    3. completed the initial assessment, all 4 group sessions, and one follow-up

  • What is the cost to apply?

    Our pricing is for a 4-year accreditation period. You can find details here.

Additional Resources

National Standards and Interpretive Guidance 

All accredited programs must meet the same National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management and Support (DSMES).  The Standards are updated at a minimum every five years in a joint effort by CMS, ADCES, and ADA.  View the most recent published standards and the latest version of ADCES's Interpretive Guidance for implementing the standards.

Billing and Reimbursement

Accreditation is required in order to bill Medicare and other payers for DSMES (CMS refers to it as DSMT or DSME/T).

Before diving right in to accreditation, become knowledgeable about the billing and reimbursement requirements. You will find frequently asked questions about billing and reimbursement for DSMT here. ADCES members can also gets answers from our Reimbursement Expert.

National Resources

The CDC has a DSMES toolkit you may find helpful. 

The following are links to references for Medicare coverage and reimbursement information pertaining to DSMT:

Ready to apply? 

Head here when you're prepared to start the application process.

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