The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) https://www.pcori.org reports that over half of Hispanics/Latinos will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Previous studies examining the use of diabetes telemedicine programs in low income communities have found the programs effective but there is not currently a program tailored especially to Hispanic communities.
PCORI approved the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research https://www.feinsteininstitute.org for a $3 million research award to study how home tele-monitoring for patients in the Hispanic community living with type 2 diabetes can be effective. Professor Renee Pekmezaris PhD will lead the study.
Diabetes Tele-Management (DTM) programs use technology to connect patients with their care provider for a weekly tele-visit plus DTM enables patients to have their blood sugar and vital signs monitored daily.
The study is going to see whether DTM is able to improve care for patients with type 2 diabetes as compared to comprehensive outpatient management which is the most common treatment approach for Hispanic patients from lower-income and health access communities.
The study has two parts. The first part of the study uses qualitative methods to adapt the DTM program intervention for Hispanic/Latino disparity patients, using a Community Advisory Board. The Board includes patients, caregivers, and community leaders. Other stakeholders will include community-based organizations such as Vida Si, and Diabetes No, and the American Diabetes Association.
The second part of the study, will test the program scientifically using a randomized controlled trial to see if it is more effective than comprehensive outpatient management where patients receive clinic care to manage their type 2 diabetes. The other set of patients and their caregivers in the study will receive tablets so they can easily be connected to their nurse practitioner with issues related to diabetes.
As Professor Pekmezaris said, “Thanks to PCORI, I’m confident that we will be able to offer Hispanic/Latino patients a telehealth program that makes the diabetes diagnosis less cumbersome. By ordering regular check-ins from a medical professional and identifying early warning signs of larger medical issues before the patient becomes sick, we hope to improve quality as well as length of life.”
A study is taking place in Maryland and District of Columbia since diabetes in the community can be as high as 15 percent in adults. The Merck Foundation’s “Bridging the Gap: Reducing Disparities in Diabetes Care” grant https://www.merck.com, George Washington University (GW) https://www.gwu.edu in D.C in partnership with La Clinica del Pueblo https://www.lcdp.org serving 8,000 men, women, and children, together have launched the first project ECHO site in D.C and in the Maryland region to help care teams manage complex diabetes cases and establish team-based care review meetings
La Clinica aims to strengthen the delivery of diabetes care through practice transformation strategies and to conduct multilevel and inter-sectoral interventions to reduce health disparities and improve population health in Hispanic/Latino communities.
Fourteen sessions will be held over the course of six months. Care teams will learn how they can approach diabetic patients with complex diagnoses. The goal is to offer the diabetes ECHO training sessions to many local primary care providers in D.C and Maryland and to more GW students over the next four years.