Three health care organizations have been selected by The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), in collaboration with the American Medical Association (AMA) and The Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI), to receive grants to develop new practice-setting models for addressing the national type 2 diabetes epidemic.
Three health care organizations have been selected by The American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), in collaboration with the American Medical Association (AMA) and The Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI), to receive grants to develop new practice-setting models for addressing the national type 2 diabetes epidemic. These grantees will form the cornerstone of the collaboration’s efforts to address prediabetes in vulnerable populations, with a priority on African-American and Hispanic women.
The grant awardees are:
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: UT Southwestern will expand on existing efforts to use electronic health record (EHR) information to automatically identify vulnerable populations for screening using a prediabetes risk score. They will partner with the Baylor Scott and White Health and Wellness Institute to deliver a diabetes prevention program using an extensive playbook of culturallyrelevant patient retention strategies including farm stand vouchers, activity challenges, and raffle prizes awarded at prevention program meetings to maintain program enrollment and completion.
UW Medicine | Valley Medical Center: The UW Medicine | Valley Medical Center team will deepen an ongoing collaboration with a local YMCA chapter to engage diabetes prevention program enrollees outside of the clinic and build relationships with DPP enrollees. Additionally, Valley Medical Center will integrate its EHR prediabetes identification and referral system with the YMCA, to improve patient recruitment.
Northeast Valley Health Corporation (NEVHC): The community health center will lead staff training based on the AMA’s M.A.P. framework—designed to help clinical care teams and physicians accurately diagnose and effectively treat chronic disease. Additionally, NEVHC will implement the PREPARE risk assessment tool developed by the National Association of Community Health Centers to better identify at-risk patients based on social determinants of health. An expanded patient follow-up program and referrals to community resources will be employed to ensure patients have the support needed to complete the diabetes prevention program.
As April is Minority Health Month, it is especially pertinent to highlight that data show some minority populations are under-enrolled in prevention programs relative to their type 2 diabetes risk. Per data from the National Health Interview Survey, non-Hispanic blacks and people of Hispanic origin have a higher age-adjusted incidence of diabetes compared to non-Hispanic whites. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program (DPRP) show that nonHispanic whites accounted for 59.3 percent of enrolled participants, while 11.3 percent of participants were non-Hispanic blacks, and 8.9 percent were people of Hispanic origin.
These grantees will explore whether innovative approaches to addressing social determinants of health can help close the enrollment gap, increase completion rates for minority participants and prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.