Pilot feasibility and efficacy of a strategy to sustain A1C improvement among diverse adults with type 2 diabetes completing a diabetes care management program.

INTRODUCTION: Evidence-based strategies are needed to sustain improvements in outcomes following diabetes care management (DCM) programs. We examined the impact of Boot Camp-Plus (BC-Plus), an innovative sustaining strategy, on A1C among adults with type 2 diabetes completing a 3-month Diabetes Boot Camp (DBC). This health system sponsored program consisted of diabetes self-management education and support, medical nutrition therapy and antihyperglycemic medications management. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: From March 2019 to July 2021, adult DBC completers with Medicare or a health system Medicaid or employee commercial plan were enrolled in BC-Plus for 9 months. DBC completers not meeting insurance eligibility or who declined to participate in BC-Plus acted as controls. During the first 3 months, BC-Plus participants received ongoing daily remote blood glucose (BG) monitoring; and during all 9 months, they received monthly check-in calls with BG review by a medical assistant who addressed needs for supplies/drugs, whether participants were checking BGs, and self-care encouragement. Escalation to a nurse practitioner occurred if the monthly BG trend was >200 mg/dL and/or several BG <80 mg/dL and/or new A1C >9.0% were identified. A1C was followed for an additional 9 months post-BC-Plus. A longitudinal mixed effects analysis was used to assess change in A1C from month 0 to month 21 of follow-up between BC-Plus participants versus controls. RESULTS: A total of 838 DCM completers were identified, among whom 281 joined the BC-Plus intervention and 557 acted as controls. Mean age was 55.9 years; 58.2% were women; 66.2% were black; and 30.6% insured by Medicare. BC-Plus participants experienced significantly lower A1C compared with controls and remained below 8.0% to month 18. CONCLUSIONS: Among completers of a 3-month DCM program, a low intensity 9-month sustaining strategy maintained A1C under 8.0% (HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) threshold for diabetes control) compared with controls for 15 months after completion of the initial DCM intervention.

Understanding Perceptions of Care Coordination and Chronic Illness Management among Black Breast and Prostate Cancer Survivors and Providers: Findings from a Quality Improvement Study.

Navigating cancer care is complex and is exacerbated by pre-existing comorbidities managed by multiple providers. In this quality improvement study, we evaluated changes in perceived care coordination, navigation, and chronic illness care with community health worker (CHW) and mHealth support among Black breast cancer and prostate cancer patients with hypertension and/or diabetes. We collected patient and provider surveys on chronic illness care coordination at baseline and six months and found improvements in multiple domains. These findings support engaging CHWs to improve care coordination among cancer patients with comorbidities and demonstrate a use case of importance with emerging navigation reimbursement policies.