With type 2 diabetes reaching epidemic proportions in the United States, it’s crucial for physicians to screen for prediabetes and partner with community organizations to improve health outcomes, panelists at the AMA National Advocacy Conference told doctors last week.
The discussion focused on the AMA’s Improving Health Outcomes initiative, which addresses the staggering toll diabetes is taking on this country by addressing prediabetes through clinical linkages with evidence-based community programs. One in three adults has prediabetes, and most don’t even know it.
“[We’re working to] create linkages that are effective and efficient, not burdensome, between physicians and their community resources,” AMA CEO James Madara, MD, said of the AMA’s initiative.
Part of establishing those linkages is making sure more employers support preventive programs and more insurers cover the services, both in the clinical and nonclinical setting.
One way to establish a more widespread culture of clinic-community ties is through new legislation, the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act of 2013, that could save $1.3 billion over 10 years and reduce the incidence of diabetes among seniors by more than one-third, according to a recent study. The legislation has 18 co-sponsors from both parties.
A keystone of the AMA’s initiative is a pilot program launched in partnership with the YMCA of the USA to reduce the incidence of diabetes. In the program, physicians screen patients for prediabetes and refer them to the local YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program, which is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s proven program. The local YMCA then communicates with the physician to close a feedback loop, in order to improve health outcomes for the individuals participating.
“We can have your back,” Matt Longjohn, MD, national health officer at the YMCA of the USA, told physicians. “If you can diagnose folks and get them into these community programs, we can meet that need.”
