Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is a highly prevalent chronic disease with major social and healthcare repercussions due to the development of acute and chronic complications. The care of patients with DM2 represents between 6.3% and 7.4% of the budget of the Spanish national health service and is mainly centered on hospital admissions and hypoglycemic agents, leading to an annual expenditure of 1.290 € to 1.476 € per patient. The attainment of glycemic targets remains complex and inadequate, despite new drugs for the treatment of DM2, the available scientific evidence, and national and international guidelines. The main causes proposed for failure to achieve these targets in DM2 are clinical inertia (found in 40% of physicians in Spain treating patients with HbA1c > 7%), poor treatment adherence, the problems inherent to the health system, and the natural history of the disease.