PROJECT IMPACT: DIABETES
National Press Release
PROJECT IMPACT DIABETES IMPROVES PATIENT OUTCOMES IN 25 COMMUNITIES UNDERSERVED OR DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED BY DIABETES
Data Confirm Pharmacists Play a Key Role on the Healthcare Team
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Interim clinical results from Project IMPACT: Diabetes, announced today by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation, show statistically significant decreases in A1C or blood sugar levels, LDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and Body Mass Index (BMI), which are all recognized standards of diabetes care. Participating patients in 25 communities who experienced improved outcomes encompass almost every socioeconomic class, insurance status and ethnicity.
Launched in 2010 in partnership with the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s Together on Diabetes™ initiative, Project IMPACT: Diabetes is the first national research initiative to improve people’s health by integrating pharmacists into diabetes care teams in communities that are underserved or highly affected by diabetes. More than 2,000 patients have engaged in one-on-one consultations with pharmacists who help them better manage their disease through appropriate medication use, exercise, nutrition and other lifestyle changes.
Pharmacists collaborate with and refer patients to physicians and other health care providers to assure patients receive comprehensive care. “The interim clinical results of Project IMPACT: Diabetes demonstrate that when patients, pharmacists, physicians, diabetes educators and other members of the health care team work together, clinical outcomes improve and patients better manage their diabetes,” said APhA Foundation Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Benjamin M. Bluml, RPh, who designed and leads Project IMPACT: Diabetes.
According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes and more than 200,000 die every year. People with diabetes are at higher risk of developing diabetes-related complications, including heart disease and stroke, kidney failure, blindness and lower limb amputations. Integrating the APhA Foundation’s proven patient-centered model of collaborative care into participating communities enables local health care teams to better address the diabetes epidemic they are facing within populations that are uninsured, underinsured, poverty stricken, or have a high incidence of the disease.
“Everyone with diabetes faces challenges such as adhering to prescribed medications, monitoring blood glucose levels, staying current with vaccines and foot and eye exams, and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle,” said APhA Foundation Director of Applied Innovation Lindsay Watson, RPh. “Working together with pharmacists empowers all types of patients – rich and poor, insured and uninsured, anywhere in America – to take the steps they need to understand and manage their diabetes while living healthier lives.”
How Project IMPACT: Diabetes Works
Modeled after several other highly successful APhA Foundation programs, including the Diabetes Ten City Challenge, Project IMPACT: Diabetes provides participating self-insured employers, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), community and university-affiliated pharmacies, free clinics and other organizations in 25 communities with the guidance and support to facilitate local success and improve patient outcomes.
Each community has a champion who works together with an APhA Foundation Community Coordinator to customize the implementation of Project IMPACT: Diabetes and engage patients, health care professionals, payers and other local resources as they work to improve care.
The APhA Foundation provides communities with training and access to clinical data management tools and its Patient Self-Management Credential™, which helps pharmacists identify each patient’s knowledge strengths and areas for improvement and allows customization and prioritization of education to address each individual’s knowledge gaps.
In addition to one-one-one consultations with pharmacists, other aspects of local care models can include group educational classes, grocery store food tours, exercise programs, joint visits where pharmacists and physicians meet with patients together, and incentives such as bus passes, grocery store gift cards, discounted or free healthy lunches at employer worksites, and discounted co-payments for diabetes medications and supplies.
“The occurrence of diabetes is at epidemic proportions and it has a devastating impact on our healthcare system, especially in communities where access to care may be limited,” said APhA Foundation Executive Director, Mindy D. Smith, RPh. “Through programs like Project IMPACT: Diabetes, the APhA Foundation is transforming health care delivery in local communities and driving fundamental change in the U.S. health care system.
Watch the project overview video on our YouTube page. Keep up to date on the project on Facebook and Twitter.
About the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit organization affiliated with the American Pharmacists Association, the national professional society of pharmacists. The APhA Foundation has expertise in designing programs that seek to create a new medication use system in the U.S. where pharmacists, physicians and other health care providers collaborate to reduce health care costs and improve patient outcomes through safe and effective use of medications.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s Together on Diabetes™
Together on Diabetes™ is a five-year, $115 million initiative launched in November 2010 by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to improve health outcomes of people living with type 2 diabetes in China, India and the United States by strengthening patient self-management, education, community-based supportive services and broad-based community mobilization. Consistent with the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s mission to promote health equity, this initiative targets adult populations disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes.