Athens, Ga. (June 9, 2025) – The American Diabetes Association® (ADA) – the nation’s leading organization committed to fighting diabetes – has announced the recognition of the Piedmont Athens Regional Diabetes Education Program through their Education Recognition Program (ERP). Programs that achieve recognition have knowledgeable health professionals who can provide state-of-the-art information about diabetes management for participants.
To be certified, diabetes education programs must demonstrate their services meet the national standards for diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) and that any corresponding intervention provided is evidence-based and outcome driven.
“The certification process gives our clinical educators a national standard by which to measure the quality of the services they provide,” said Dexter Joyner, manager of diabetes education at Piedmont Athens Regional. “It also helps patients to identify programs that demonstrate high-quality care with positive outcomes.”
Programs voluntarily apply for certification which is active for four years. The Piedmont Athens Regional DSMES service was originally recognized in July of 1997.
“DSMES is an essential part of managing diabetes and is as affective as diabetes medication. Therefore, all people with diabetes benefit from it,” said Barbara Eichorst, MS, RD, CDCES, the ADA’s vice president of health programs. “We applaud Piedmont Athens for its commitment to providing value-based interventions such as DSMES, maximizing corresponding outcomes, and patient experience.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Diabetes Fact Sheet, there are over 38 million people, or 11.6%, of the U.S. population who have diabetes. Each day, nearly 3,300 Americans are diagnosed with diabetes. While an estimated 29.7 million have been diagnosed, unfortunately 8.7 million people are not aware they have this disease. Many will first learn they have diabetes when they are treated for one of its life-threatening complications—heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, nerve disease, or amputation. Diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S.—in 2021, it contributed to 399,401 deaths. The ADA’s Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. 2022 report confirms diabetes continues to be one of the nation’s most expensive chronic health care conditions with an estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes of $412.9 billion. Learn more about the ADA’s ERP and other ERP-certified services.