A Statewide Physician Champion Initiative to Prevent Diabetes: Lessons Learned from North Carolina.

The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) and American Medical Association (AMA) collaborated to support diabetes prevention efforts in North Carolina (NC) with a physician champion initiative focused on tracking and increasing referrals to the National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). Three focus areas to effectively engage and utilize physician champions included: (1) self-adoption within their practice, (2) engagement and outreach with other healthcare leaders, and (3) influence to peers and colleagues. Six NC physician champions were selected to support the work from January 2020 to January 2023. This resulted in increased outreach to physicians about Diabetes Free NC , increased materials/education for physicians on prediabetes identification and management, and 1943 referrals to the National DPP. This work can be further translated and applied to other states to aid prevention efforts. Physician champions' expertise coupled with adequate resources can allow them to play a key role in chronic disease prevention and management.

How Do We Jump-Start Self-measured Blood Pressure Monitoring in the United States? Addressing Barriers Beyond the Published Literature.

Hypertension is highly prevalent in the United States, and many persons with hypertension do not have controlled blood pressure. Self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP), when combined with clinical support, is an evidence-based strategy for lowering blood pressure and improving control in persons with hypertension. For years, there has been support for widespread implementation of SMBP by national organizations and the federal government, and SMBP was highlighted as a primary intervention in the 2020 Surgeon General's Call to Action to Control Hypertension, yet optimal SMBP use remains low. There are well-known patient and clinician barriers to optimal SMBP documented in the literature. We explore additional high-level barriers that have been encountered, as broad policy and systems-level changes have been attempted, and offer potential solutions. Collective efforts could modernize data transfer and processing, improve broadband access, expand device coverage and increase affordability, integrate SMBP into routine care and reimbursement practices, and strengthen patient engagement, trust, and access.