Abstract
Diabetes presents patients with behavioral challenges requiring a high degree of self-management. According to the American Diabetes Association guidelines, a type 2 diabetes patient is recommended to take an A1C measurement every three months; however, many patients do not. This article proposes a Markov decision process (MDP) model to lay out the optimal A1C test-taking behavior of a patient. Compared with the empirical behavior derived from the clinical data, the optimal behavior derived from the MDP model suggests that the patients who do not follow the recommendations to take the quarterly A1C test might behave rationally and optimally. We therefore recommend practical incentives that encourage patients to take the quarterly A1C test.