adminAccording to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 13 percent of adults age 20 and older and nearly one-third of people 65 years and older have diabetes in the U.S. The statistics for racial and ethnic minorities and people living in rural areas are even more startling.
Given these statistics, it’s surprising that less than half of people with diabetes have not had any form of education about their disease. Through free diabetes self-management classes, the Quality Insights Quality Innovation Network (QIN) hopes to change that.
Through the Everyone with Diabetes Counts (EDC) program, funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), QIN coordinates and promotes in-depth diabetes education classes to thousands of Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, and West Virginia.
How QIN Can Help
Through partnerships with health care providers and community stakeholders, Quality Insights can:
- Provide train-the-trainer programs to increase the numbers of Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) and Community Health Workers (CHWs)
- Facilitate the development of training sites in a five state region
- Identify opportunities to educate providers on diabetes self-management education
These and other activities are designed to unite stakeholders with a shared vision of improved diabetes self-management and to achieve broad goals, including:
- Improving HbA1c, lipid, blood pressure and weight control outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes
- Decreasing the number of people who require lower extremity amputations due to complications resulting from poorly controlled diabetes
- Improving the health literacy of people with diabetes who have Medicare and/or Medicaid
- Increasing providers’ adherence to clinical guidelines related to HbA1c, lipids, and eye exams
- Becoming a Certified Diabetes Center
- Increasing the number of Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) in each state
Get Involved
Quality Insights is at the forefront of reducing disparities in diabetes care in our five-state region. Please consider joining us in this important project. You can help in the following ways:
- Assist with recruiting Medicare beneficiaries (and their families) with diabetes to attend diabetes self-management classes
- Suggest community health workers for “train-the-trainer” sessions so that we can continue to sustain the improvements made over time
For further information, contact Shikina Wills, project coordinator, at swills@wvmi.org or (877)346-6180 ext. 8725.
Additional Resources from PAMED
The Pennsylvania Medical Society’s (PAMED) diabetes care recommendations and mellitus flow sheet can help physicians in treating their diabetic patients. Updated in May 2014, the tools also can assist physician practices in meeting quality reporting requirements.
The recommendations review treatment goals, screening, diagnosis, and assessment and management of the diabetic patient. The flow sheet gives recommended elements for every diabetic visit and annual exam and allows physicians to record data and other notes.