OBJECTIVES: Disease Management Programmes (DMP) aim at improving care quality by implementing standards for medical practices. In the case of Diabetes Mellitus Type II (DM II), care improvements can be assessed by the duration between the first diagnosis and the occurrence of the first related complication. The aim of this longitudinal study is to investigate the direct influence of the DMP-based treatments on patient outcomes, measured as the postponement of diabetes related complications in a large population of DM II patients. The study also investigates how DMP inscriptions of some patients of a medical practice indirectly influence patient outcomes of DM II patients, who are not inscribed in a DMP, but are treated in the same practise. We argue that this indirect effect is due to physicians’ learning from the DMP-based treatments in their clinics. METHODS: Using consultation data from IMS Health from a period of 25 years (1984-2009) a survival analysis is applied. The data set includes 161,747 DM II patients from >1100 practices. Applying a Kaplan-Meier-Method we test for direct effects of DMPs on patient outcomes. By pooling patients by the registration year of the practice-leading physician and by focussing on their quarterly consultation rate, we test for indirect effects of DMPs on patient outcomes.. RESULTS: The mean survival time (duration between first diagnosis and first complication) of the medical treatment of diabetics in a DMP is 14,82 years, differing significantly from the 15,76 years without a DMP. These tests are controlled for following patient variables: sex, age, HbA1C, BMI and the insurance status. Learnings from DMPs, indirectly affecting DM care, significantly postpone complications for younger physicians and practices with fewer diabetics.   CONCLUSIONS: Contributing to assessments of DMPs, the study discusses policy implications, as it is shown that care quality is improved by physicians learning from DMPs.