Accountable Care Organizations as a tool to help control exploding cost of diabetes?

I came across this article posted on cnn.com: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/26/diabetes.projections/index.html

A study predicts that the cost of diabetes may triple over the next 25 years, from $113 billion to $346 billion. This figure is absolutely astounding. As we know, diabetes is one of the most preventable diseases, yet we as a society are not doing a particularly good job at preventing or managing it.

This article argues that part of the reason that diabetes is so hard to manage is because its effects are not seen until years later, when the disease has progressed to more severe stages. Accountable care organizations, which offers incentives for insurers and medical providers to encourage early treatment, may hold promise. This is not a novel idea as the UK has a similar system in place.

However, what is needed is greater incentives for patients to take control of their own health care. According to one Dr. Jonathan Gruber, an economist at MIT, putting the patient in control of their own care may help. In particular, he "likes the idea of allowing insurers to charge higher premiums to people who don't meet certain health benchmarks, such as losing weight if they're obese."

As someone with some clinical experience, I believe that one of the most difficult things to achieve in health care is patient compliance. Perhaps directly integrating cost incentives or dis-incentives may be the catalyst to help patients wake up and place their health as a top priority.