AMA, CDC Prevent Diabetes STAT joint initiative calls for action to prevent prediabetes progression

The American Medical Association and CDC today announced a joint multiyear initiative called Prevent Diabetes STAT: Screen, Test, Act - Today to broaden the work each organization has already done to reach people with prediabetes and halt progression to type 2 diabetes.

Supported by scientific evidence from the National Diabetes Prevention Program and backed by funding from the American Medical Association (AMA) and CDC, the initiative underscores the need for urgent action and invites help from health care professionals and stakeholders.

“The goal of Prevent Diabetes: STAT is to raise awareness about prediabetes and to increase screening, testing and referral to evidence-based diabetes prevention programs that are part of CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program,” Ann Albright, PhD, RD, director of the CDC Division of Diabetes Translation, told Endocrine Today. “To do this, more physicians — including endocrinologists — need to screen and test patients for prediabetes and make these referrals. Research shows that when people know they have prediabetes they are more likely to take action.”

Ann Albright

The AMA and CDC together have already developed a toolkit to guide health care providers on best practices to screen patients for diabetes and refer high-risk individuals to participate in prevention programs within their communities, available at www.PreventDiabetesSTAT.com.

The site also provides information to encourage key stakeholder involvement and offers an online screening tool for patients.

“We believe that by coming together as two large organizations, the CDC and the AMA will cast a strong light on this problem and (offer) a path forward to tackle it as well,” Robert M. Wah, MD, president of the AMA, said during a teleconference. “By bringing this light on the subject, we hope to bring others into the effort. This can’t be done simply by a government agency and physicians.”

Robert M. Wah

As part of the Improving Health Outcomes initiative launched by the AMA in 2013, the YMCA of the USA worked to increase the number of physicians who screen patients for prediabetes and refer them to prevention programs at local YMCAs participating in the CDC’s recognition program

Care teams from 11 physician practice pilot sites in four states involved in the effort helped inform the development of the Prevent Diabetes STAT toolkit.

“As the AMA and the CDC have worked to prevent type 2 diabetes in this country, it has become abundantly clear that far too many people are unaware they have prediabetes and that they can take action to prevent or delay its progression to type 2 diabetes,” Wah said.

The next step would be to scale the programs on a national level.

CDC grantees already working on the national DPP including the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, America’s Health Insurance Plan and the YMCA can help spread implementation.

“We are working with insurance companies and employers now,” Albright said. “This will also give us a chance to provide tools and even more of a focus for this concerted national effort, to rally us together.”

As the largest physician organization in the U.S., the AMA can utilize its resources and communication channels to reach national, state and county levels, along with specialty societies.

“We can spread the word to our physicians about the importance of this initiative and how it can help them in their offices and more importantly help their patients get diagnosed and start on the road to working on preventing the conversion from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes,” Wah said.

With pilot sites in Florida, Delaware, Indiana and Minnesota, the initiative is taking lessons from the pilots in order to expand the scope and garner a larger impact.

“There has not been this concerted effort around scaling and implementing this lifestyle change program that has one of the strongest bodies of evidence behind it,” Albright said.

With several-year commitments to prevent diabetes through collaboration to achieve shared goals, the AMA and CDC will continue efforts to engage with others to increase health insurance coverage for diabetes prevention programs so that more people have access to these vital evidence-based services.

“Success will be measured through the CDC Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program, part of the National Diabetes Prevention Program, that allows us to monitor increasing numbers of new programs and increasing numbers of attendees with successful completion,” Albright said. “We will also monitor more employers covering their employees’ lifestyle change programs and more insurers offering coverage of these programs.” – by Allegra Tiver