Diabetes Action Plan

Diabetes Action Plan

Background

In December 2016, IDPH set out to develop a Diabetes Action Plan to cover the period of 2018 through 2020. The process was funded by a grant from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and facilitated by the consulting firm, Leading Healthy Futures. The project brought together diverse stakeholders from both the private and public sectors in Illinois. IDPH, along with Leading Healthy Futures, and the stakeholders, engaged in developing goals, objectives, and strategies. From this, a ‘3-5-7’ strategic framework was developed.  Implementation of the Diabetes Action Plan began in February 2018 and serves as a guide for diabetes stakeholders to support and sustain evidence-based lifestyle change programs for preventing and managing Type 2 diabetes. The plan calls for increasing knowledge and awareness; establishing mechanisms for referral, recruitment, and retention; using innovative delivery and care models; enhancing the quality of care; and driving policy and funding efforts.

Outcomes

Congress authorized the National DPP in 2010 because of previous research that demonstrated the potential of the CDC-recognized lifestyle change program to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was a major multicenter clinical research study. The intervention involved a lifestyle change program focusing on calorie reduction and increasing physical activity to at least 150 minutes per week. Results from the study showed that this structured lifestyle change program, in which participants achieved weight loss of 5 to 7 percent of their body weight (10 to 14 pounds for a person weighing 200 pounds), reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent in adults at high risk for the disease.

A 10-year follow-up study, The Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study, showed that participants were still one-third less likely to develop type 2 diabetes a decade later than individuals who took a placebo. Those who did develop type 2 diabetes delayed the onset of the disease by about 4 years.

Summaries of additional research studies can be found on CDC’s National DPP Coverage Toolkit.

Business Case for Employers

Diabetes is a serious chronic disease that poses a major health problem.

  • Nearly 30.3 million people in the United States (9.4% of the population) have diabetes. About one-third of these people do not know they have diabetes.
  • Each year, 1.5 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older. In Illinois, approximately 1.3 million (12.5% of the population) adults have diabetes, but roughly 341,000 of those don’t know they have it.
  • It is estimated that about 3.6 million people in Illinois have prediabetes.
  • Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death nationally and in Illinois.

Persons with diabetes may suffer from complications such as heart disease, vision loss, and amputations. The burden of diabetes is highest among minority populations, such as African Americans, Hispanics/Latino Americans, American Indians or American Natives, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Project Goals

Starting October 1, 2018, the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program began work on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 1815 grant with focus on:

  • Improving access to and participation in American Diabetes Association (ADA) recognized, and American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) accredited, Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support programs (DSME/S) in underserved areas.
  • Increasing the engagement of pharmacists in providing medication management for DSME for people with diabetes.
  • Collaborating with payers and relevant public and private sector organizations within the state to expand availability of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) as a covered benefit for Medicaid beneficiaries, state/public employees, and employees of private sector organizations.
  • Implementing strategies to increase enrollment in CDC-recognized lifestyle change programs.
  • Developing a statewide infrastructure to promote long-term sustainability/reimbursement for Community Health Workers.

Midwest Business Group on Health was a recipient of the 1815 Grant from IDPH and is:

  1. Collaborating with payers and employees of private sector organizations to expand the availability of the NDPP as a covered benefit for employees of state/public/private sector organizations.
  2. Implementing strategies to increase enrollment in CDC-recognized lifestyle change program.
  3. Promoting awareness and use of the Diabetes Management in the Workplace toolkit on the MBGH.org website.