DUBLIN, Ohio — Cardinal Health Inc. has enhanced its Diabetes Specialized Care Center with new education and training tools for pharmacists to help patients understand the disease better and manage their overall health better.

Every 19 seconds, someone in the United States is diagnosed with diabetes, adding up to more than 32,000 people a week, according to the American Diabetes Association.

“Twenty-nine million Americans live with diabetes, and 86 million have prediabetes,” said Steve Light, vice president of consumer health at Cardinal Health. “As the diabetes population continues to grow, we are committed to arming community pharmacists with innovative new tools to help patients make the kind of meaningful behavior changes that can have a significant impact on their health ­outcomes.”

Pharmacies using the Diabetes Specialized Care Center can now access Conversation Map tools from Healthy Interactions. Conversation Maps are visual, hands-on educational materials that help foster small group, interactive patient, caregiver and staff learning and engagement. The turnkey program allows a pharmacy to market and deliver billable diabetes education to patients.

Enhancements include ongoing online support to help patients track their progress and goals, and stay connected to their educator and peers. My Digital Health Coach, an online health coaching tool, creates personalized health and wellness action plans for managing diabetes, based on each patient’s goals and health ­conditions.

“Diabetes is a disease that cost the health care industry more than $245 billion last year alone,” noted Light. “These innovative new tools help community pharmacists build deeper, more loyal relationships with their patients, with the ultimate goal of driving patient engagement, improving outcomes and reducing the costs of combating this ­disease.”

Other Cardinal Health specialized care centers cover heart health, immunizations, long-term care and home health care.