One out of every three of your patients likely has prediabetes—and it’s even more likely that they don’t even know they are at an elevated risk for type 2 diabetes. Use National Diabetes Month this November to educate your patients about their risks and encourage them to be screened.
Studies suggest diabetes prevalence has as much as tripled in recent decades, and data show about two in five Americans will develop type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives. Physician practices can screen and test their patients to prevent type 2 diabetes before it starts. New draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend screening adults aged 45 and older for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, and also specify other patient groups that should be screened.
At-risk patients may be able to attend a local lifestyle change program that is a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Diabetes Prevention Program, which offers an evidence-based lifestyle intervention that has been proven to help patients prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.
Here’s what you can do this November:
- Hang a prediabetes awareness poster in your office.
- Ask patients to complete a diabetes risk test online or in your office (log in).
- Direct patients to the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program Web page to see whether there’s an evidence-based lifestyle change program in their area.
As part of its Improving Health Outcomes initiative, the AMA is working with the YMCA of the USA to explore a process for physicians to screen and test patients for prediabetes, refer eligible patients to participate in the local YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program and receive feedback from the program to use in patients’ care plans. The YMCA’s program is based on the CDC’s evidence-based program.
Watch AMA Wire® throughout the month of November for more information about ways you can help your patients take action to prevent diabetes.
How do you improve outcomes around diabetes in your practice? Tell us in the comments below at AMA Wire or on the AMA’s Facebook page.
