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Breakout Sessions
Disease Management Breakout
Group Report (continued...)
Quality Improvement (continued...)
The group also felt that an important step in the area
of quality improvement for the ethnic physicians was to
work through the Network to establish diabetes care coordinators
to work in the office to support the physician in effectively
organizing and managing diabetes care. The California
Diabetes Prevention and Control Program [CDPCP] is looking
to initiate this in California and the Network could be
a strategic partner in this effort.
Key partners needed to initiate and sustain these efforts
will include -
- Private Disease Management Organizations
- Lumetra
- Primary Care Clinics
- CMS Region IX & Medicare
- California CDPCP
- MediCal Managed Care Programs [CADHS]
- California Certified Diabetes Educators organization
- Pharmaceutical Companies
- Academic Medical Centers - we need to let them know
about the changing models of care.
- Schools of Allied Health
- California Department of Managed Health Care
- Pacific Business Group on Health and other business
organizations
- American Diabetes Association/California Diabetes
Association
- Community-based organizations and advocacy groups
at the local level
- Ethnic media
- Policy makers
The question was also raised as to whether we could approach
fast food enterprises and partner with them in any way.
The group closed its work with a discussion on the possible
barriers to success and what the Network will need in
order to maximize success. These factors include -
- Buy-in from ethnic physician organizations.
- Partners will need to see value in their partnership.
- Many ethnic physicians practice in small groups or
as solo practitioners. We will therefore need to reconfigure
many of the models of care being promoted to be adaptable
to offices where there are not many resources or team
members available.
- A Self-sustaining strategy.
- Dollars and other Resources.
- A Distilled, understandable message and goals.
- Buy-in from ethnic media.
- Payors realizing there is an economic value to treating
patients effectively and emphasizing preventive care.
- Ethnic physicians who are looking outside their offices
both for partners and as partners in the success of
their community's health.
- Sharing the learning - identify "experts"
who can serve as peer mentors.
- Being open to working with nontraditional partners
A key issue the group brought up is that this issue is
so big that everyone and no one is responsible at the
same time for the epidemic of obesity and diabetes facing
our communities. We would like to see ethnic physicians
be the catalyst to ignite the healthcare community and
others to eliminate diabetes health disparities.
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