Dr. Matthew Felber is First Nebraska Physician to Receive Distinction

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) have recognized Dr. Matthew Felber, a physician at the Pender Mercy Medical Clinic in Pender, Neb. and the Bancroft Mercy Medical Clinic in Bancroft, Neb., for providing quality care to his patients with diabetes.

Dr. Felber is the first physician in the state of Nebraska to receive recognition from the national Diabetes Physician Recognition Program.

Designed to improve the quality of care that patients with diabetes receive by recognizing physicians who deliver quality diabetes care, the NCQA/ADA recognition program also seeks to motivate other physicians to document and improve their delivery of diabetes care.

To receive such recognition, which is valid for three years, Dr. Felber submitted data that demonstrates performance that meets the program's key diabetes care measures. These measures include eye exams, foot exams, nephropathy assessment, lipid profiles, tobacco status and counseling referral, and blood pressure tests, among others. When people with diabetes receive quality care as outlined by these measures, they are less likely to suffer complications such as heart attacks, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and amputations.

"For a person with diabetes, the right physician can make the difference between living with diabetes as opposed to suffering from diabetes," says Dr. Robert A. Rizza, president of the American Diabetes Association. "Physicians who earn recognition through the Diabetes Physician Recognition Program have an established track record of providing excellent diabetes care. These physicians are on a list of recognized doctors that is the first place to look if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with diabetes."

Colleen Weborg, manager of Mercy's Pender area medical clinics, said Dr. Felber's recognition as a provider of quality diabetes care reflects the clinic's continued practice of providing care of the highest quality to residents of northeast Nebraska.

"We strive to deliver the best possible care close to home," she said. "Because of the wide prevalence of diabetes, we think it is important that one of our physicians has earned this recognition."

"We congratulate Dr. Felber for not only earning recognition from two influential national organizations but also for being the first physician in Nebraska to do so," Weborg added.

Mercy Medical Center-Sioux City and its affiliated clinics across northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska have taken a leadership role in diabetes care.

Pender Community Hospital, part of the Mercy Diabetes Education Program, gives people with diabetes the knowledge, skills and tools they need to successfully manage their diabetes and avoid many of the complications associated with the disease.

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects the body's ability to produce or respond properly to insulin, a hormone that allows blood sugar to enter the cells of the body and be used for energy. An estimated 16 million Americans have diabetes; it is the sixth-leading cause of death by disease in the U.S. and it has no cure.

To learn more about the Diabetes Physician Recognition Program, visit www.ncqa.org/dprp, or call (202) 955-1721.

To make an appointment with Dr. Felber, call the Pender Mercy Medical Clinic at (402) 385-3033, or the Bancroft Mercy Medical Clinic at (402) 648-7606.