Innovative Partners for Health Addressing Diabetes Disparities: A Community-Based Collaboration Between a Major Insurer and a Safety-Net Hospital

African American and Latino communities are disproportionately affected by diabetes in the United States. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) recognizes the importance of collaboration among providers, community-based resources and payers in helping to eliminate the health inequities and complications associated with diabetes treatment and care. BCBSIL has partnered with Sinai Health System, a safety-net hospital in Chicago, to pilot a study where Community Health Workers (CHW) will survey 3,000 residents to identify 800 residents with Type 2 diabetes and another 350 residents at high-risk for the disease in two Chicago communities: South Lawndale, a predominantly Mexican American community and North Lawndale, a predominantly African American community. Upon identification, residents are assigned to diabetes navigators and providers for comprehensive medical management and care coordination. Local providers and community organizations will work together to offer additional neighborhood-based supports important to people managing diabetes over the longer-term. The pilot is funded under BCBSIL's Healthy Kids, Healthy Families, a three-year grant initiative to improve the health status of children and their families by focusing on: nutrition education, physical activity promotion, disease prevention and management and safe environments. The aim of this pilot is to better understand how to reduce the impacts of Type 2 diabetes in underserved communities by leveraging community resources to improve the identification, care coordination and on-going supports needed for long-term success. BCBSIL presenters will discuss why they deem it essential that health plans gain a better understanding of ways to more cost-effectively address the health status and cost challenges presented by high prevalence chronic diseases such as diabetes through new partnerships that move beyond patient-specific, episodic care to multi-faceted, coordinated community collaborations.