Medicare Diabetic Shoe Program

Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States. Over the past decade, there has been an increase of 33% with the diabetic population currently topping 16 million people. There are many complications associated with diabetes including kidney, heart, vision, circulatory and foot problems. The good news is that many of these potential problems can be minimized as a result of life style changes, medications and other preventive care.

Amputations, and/or partial amputations, of the feet and legs are growing at an alarming rate. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of non-traumatic amputation in the US alone. Just recently American Podiatric Medical Association, Medicare officials and the American Diabetes Association established a team to explore ways to reduce the number of amputations in the diabetic population. The number of these lower extremity amputations grew by 28% in the past several years. However, it has been determined that a majority of these amputations could have been prevented by routine foot care.

As Medicare providers our doctors not only treat everything from routine foot care to surgery we also prescribe and dispense Medicare approved diabetic shoes and inserts. This valuable prevention program allows diabetic patients to receive one pair of diabetic shoes and 3 pairs of diabetic inserts every calendar year. As an approved program participant Medicare will cover 80% of the allowable amount and many supplemental insurance plans take care of the remaining 20%, leaving you with little or no additional cost. Many diabetic patients qualify for this benefit.