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Blood Sugar Basics simplifies glucose goals for patients with type 2 diabetes

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LAS VEGAS – Already established as a program to educate and empower patients with type 2 diabetes to better manage their glucose levels, Blood Sugar Basics has launched a new step-by-step plan to specifically help them achieve proper A1C goals, according to a media briefing at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 23^rd Annual Scientific & Clinical Congress.

The educational Blood Sugar Basics: Get to Your Goals campaign, developed by the American College of Endocrinology with support from Merck, clarifies diabetes management by providing patients with three easy-to-follow “missions” they can complete through supplemental materials obtained at their doctors’ offices or online at BloodSugarBasics.com.

Mission No. 1

Gather intelligence and talk with your doctor.

By enhancing the physician-patient dialogue around proper blood-sugar management, there is mutual awareness of how a treatment plan is working and what next steps are required. To date, the program has reached patients through an array of interactive and customizable tools and is committed to getting tangible resources, including printouts for waiting rooms, to primary care physicians as well. “The reality is half of patients do not achieve their goals,” Etie Moghissi, MD, FACP, FACE, the program’s physician advisor, said in a press briefing. That’s the equivalent of nearly 13 million Americans not reaching recommended A1C levels of 6.5 percent or less, according to a press release.

Mission No. 2

Set goals and commit to a plan.

“This program is really empowering patients to know the ABCs of diabetes,” Moghissi told Endocrine Today. “’A’ for A1c, ‘B’ for blood pressure, ‘C’ for cholesterol. … If they know where they are and where they need to go and we provide them with the tools to get there, it’s going to help them change the statistics and hopefully get them to their A1c goals.”

To avoid complications caused by progressive disease, setting an individualized A1c target is very important, Moghissi said in an interview. “One size does not fit all.”

Mission No. 3

Regroup: Check in with your doctor and assess progress.  

Because diabetes is a progressive disease, Moghissi believes that patients should be seen at least every 3 months, not only to evaluate if treatment plans are appropriate but also to assess if patients feel confident in executing them. “Change in management is important from time to time,” she said. “Understanding that for the patient is very empowering. [Progression of disease] is not because they didn’t try hard enough, it’s because my disease needs a different regimen now.”

– By Allegra Tiver; with additional reporting by Reagan Copeland

For More Information:

Blood Sugar Basics: Get to Your Goals - bloodsugarbasics.com

Disclosures: This program is supported by Merck. Moghissi reports being a physician in private practice, and is a member of the board of trustees for the American College of Endocrinology, working on programs for diabetes. She is also on multiple advisory boards and speaker’s bureaus and discloses this information to her patients.