Glucose to Goal: A Model to Support Diabetes Management in Primary Care

University of Pittsburgh

Status: Completed

Conditions: Diabetes Mellitus

Treatments: Other: Usual Care; Other: Glucose to Goal

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02715934

1R34DK106684-01A1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Diabetes education is a very important part of diabetes care. Most people with diabetes receive care in primary care practices where diabetes education is not always available. This project tests a model designed to improve access to diabetes education services.

Full description

Evidence that diabetes self-management education (DSME) can improve health outcomes has repeatedly been shown and is considered to be a critical component of care. Diabetes educators are highly skilled at addressing diabetes-related clinical and behavioral needs through DSME, but engagement with diabetes educators is underutilized. It has been suggested that poor referral practices and the way in which DSME service is delivered are the problems. Most patients receive diabetes care in primary care yet most DSME programs are distinctly separate from primary care practice. This limits care coordination and diabetes educator access to amenities currently available to primary care. Efforts are underway to change the US health care paradigm with a focus on quality in primary care that includes practice redesign, population management, and communication through electronic medical records. The purpose of this application is to evaluate the deployment of Glucose to Goal, a model relying on a systematic redesign of practice that links diabetes educators services with primary care. This will be compared to the traditional process for DSME delivery, without the direct connection to primary care processes, for an eighteen month period. The hypothesis is that the proportion of primary care provider referrals and patient utilization of diabetes educator services from primary care practices participating in Glucose to Goal will be higher compared to those associated with traditional DSME. It is anticipated that this model will appeal to primary care providers, demonstrate a feasible approach to offering diabetes education in the current health environment, and set the stage for future testing of the model, namely its impact on meaningful improvements on diabetes outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

Enrollment: 4,994 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 75 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes
• Patients referred to diabetes self-management education by their primary care provider
• Able to read and write English

Exclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of type 1 or gestational diabetes
• Unable to speak or read English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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4,994 participants in 2 patient groups

Glucose to Goal

Experimental group

Description:

Three diabetes educators will be assigned to the Glucose to Goal/experimental arm. The educators will each identify two primary care practices of mid to large size to participate in the Glucose to Goal intervention. Patients will not be formally recruited or enrolled. Rather, information documented in the electronic medical record system will be extracted to evaluate patient-level outcomes. Based on a random sampling of mid to large size primary care practices in study communities, an estimated 2,200 patients with diabetes per study group will meet eligibility criteria for DSME referral.

Treatment:

Other: Glucose to Goal

Control Group

Other group

Description:

Two usual care diabetes educators will each identify three primary care practices of mid to large size to include in the control arm and participate in the usual care intervention. Uneven group assignment accounts for the amount of time (one day equivalent/per week) that the intervention diabetes educators will devote to each primary care practice versus the full-time availability of the usual care diabetes educators to see patients at the outpatient, hospital-based program. Like the experimental arm, an estimated 2,200 patients with diabetes will meet eligibility criteria for DSME referral. Patients will not be formally recruited or enrolled into the control arm; data will be extracted from the electronic medical record system to evaluate patient-level outcomes.

Treatment:

Other: Usual Care