National Diabetes Collaborative
 

Historical

This webpage is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to improve diabetes care within federally funded health centers. This National Diabetes Collaborative's purpose is to improve diabetes performance measures through improved health care delivery systems and to increase access and decrease health disparities among medically underserved populations.

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Goal

• To delay or decrease complications by reaching more than 90% of patients with diabetes receiving two A1C blood tests annually (at least 3 months apart).

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Methods

• Build capacity of health center teams to provide good diabetes patient care through excellence in health center systems.
• Encourage collaborative learning and action, share knowledge, and expand partnerships at the local, state, and national levels.

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Improvement model

The Improvement Model of the National Diabetes Collaborative has these parts:

• A national collaboration model to support and implement the improvements that include the BPHC, CDC, and other national partners, as well as the national network of health centers.
• An improvement process model based on the plan, do, study, and act improvement cycle emphasizing "breakthrough" concepts.
• A diabetes care model that promotes excellence in patient self-management, clinical decision support, positive delivery system redesign, clinical information systems, and strong partnerships with state and local community organizations.

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Results

Results to date indicate the success of this collaborative model in improving the A1C blood test rates among the health centers' diabetes populations.

• Since January 1999, the National Diabetes Collaborative has provided training and support on the Improvement Model to more than 260 health centers.
• CDC has also encouraged state diabetes prevention and control programs (DPCPs) to become partners with the health centers in the Collaborative. To date, 40 DPCPs have participated with the health centers and 29 DPCPs have received formal DPCP training on the Collaborative methods.
• The DPCPs provide technical assistance, resources, and links to the health centers in their improvement strategies.
• CDC facilitates monthly calls with the DPCPs to network and share ideas, and provides tools and training to DPCPs to help the health centers reach the improvement objectives.

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Future role

The BPHC is expanding the focus of the Collaborative to include more chronic conditions. A key issue among all national partners is how to maintain the momentum and sustain the improvements over time.

CDC and the DPCPs have an opportunity to build on the diabetes-specific work of the Collaborative within the states to develop, support, and influence health systems that serve populations disproportionately burdened by diabetes.

CDC will continue to partner with the BPHC to strengthen the capacity of the DPCPs to support federally funded health centers to sustain and spread diabetes improvements. CDC will focus on strengthening state-level infrastructures to support the improvement work of health centers consistent with the national Health Disparities Collaborative. The capacity-building plan will refine the public health-specific National Diabetes Collaborative curriculum developed in 2001, and add new training tools, formats, and opportunities for DPCPs and their partners.

Areas of focus for DPCP capacity-building include the following:

• Increased application of the breakthrough improvement process and the diabetes care model as demonstrated by diabetes-specific coaching and support that had been provided by BPHC or IHI.
• Increased consultant and coaching skills to help health centers use the diabetes care model as demonstrated by expanding the average gains reported in the clinical performance measures.
• Skill-building as demonstrated by adapting at least one public health community-based approach for each of the six parts of the chronic care model.
• Skill-building in developing effective partnerships to strengthen the state's infrastructure by involving entities in the larger diabetes community that have complementary organizational goals, approaches, or relevant resources.

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Health Disparities National Congress

The Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Primary Health Care and Institute for Healthcare Improvement are pleased to announce the Health Disparities National Congress on September 11-13, 2003.

CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation is one of the national partners of the Health Disparities Collaborative along with its network of state-based diabetes prevention and control programs. The congress will showcase the work of a network of health centers that are trying to improve health outcomes nationally for medically underserved and underinsured Americans with chronic diseases including asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression.

For more information, please visit Health Disparities Collaborative at www.healthdisparities.net*.

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More information

For more information, call the CDC Diabetes Inquiry Line toll free 1-800-CDC-INFO
1-888-232-6348 TTY or E-mail cdcinfo@cdc.gov . Further information is also available from the National Association of Community Health Centers at http://www.nachc.com and from the Health Disparities Collaborative.

 

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