Preventing Diabetes with the Establishment of a Health System Policy for Screening and Referral to a Community-based program

More than 86 million Americans or 1 in 3 adult over the age of 20 has prediabetes and the majority of them don’t know they have it. Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions and if prediabetes is left undetected and untreated, the progression to diabetes will continue to place a tremendous strain on physicians, clinical practices and health care costs associated with diabetes care and management.

The AMA is collaborating with the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) to prevent the onset of prediabetes by increasing physician awareness about prediabetes screening and developing referral models that link clinical practice with an evidence-based community intervention at local Ys.  Prediabetes is a treatable condition but the majority of at risk adults are not being tested. The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is based on the CDC’s national Diabetes Prevention Program, which was proven to reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 58 percent in adults.

The AMA recruited clinical practices in 8 states to identify and address barriers to operationalizing a prediabetes and referral system in today’s clinical practice environment. This session takes participants through the screening and referral models developed, tested and adapted by the demonstration sites. This session offers insight into how community health professionals can work with health systems to establish referral systems that ensures at risk patients are being identified and receive the evidence-based treatment.  The session will also explore the ongoing need for clinical practices to link with community resources to improve population health.