Tampa Bay Diabetes Leadership Forum
David Joffe, RPh, CDE, FACA
Editor in Chief
Breakout Group Presentations
Mr. Wilcher asked program participants to break out into three working
teams (Red, Yellow and Green). To each group was delegated the task
of better understanding local needs, barriers and collaborative opportunities
in the area of diabetes. The findings of the three teams are summarized
below.
Existing Resources
The Red Team focused on the areas already being addressed by
other organizations in the community, both at the local and state levels.
The group addressed the advantages of common areas of opportunity in
pooling resources, avoiding duplication of efforts, and coordinating
messages to the community. Existing resources identified by the team
included the following:
National
- American Diabetes Association (ADA).
- Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDFR).
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).
- American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE).
- Indian Health Service.
- Steps to a HealthierUS Initiative.
- Managed Medicaid Plans, eg, StayWell, AMERIGROUP, etc.
State
- Department of Health Diabetes Advisory Council.
- Diabetes Congress.
- Florida Practice Guideline.
- Diabetes Care Cards.
- Florida Medical Quality Assurance, Inc. (FMQAI).
- Physician Office Project.
- HbA1c.
- Eye exams.
- Lipid testing.
- Underserved and Rural Project.
- Outreach – Beneficiary Education.
- Information from other states.
- Minnesota.
- North Dakota.
- Pennsylvania.
- South Carolina.
- Michigan (University of Michigan).
County
- Hillsborough County Health Care Plan (HCHCP).
- Tracking outcomes.
- Free blood glucose meters (>18).
- Similar to Hillsborough County.
- Federal grant for free-of-charge education.
Local
- ADA - Florida West Coast Chapter.
- St. Joseph’s Children/Adult.
- Tampa General.
- University Community Hospital.
- Morton Plant Mease.
- Joslin Clinic.
- University of South Florida (USF).
- YMCA.
- Boys/Girls Club.
- Business Wellness Programs.
- Area Agency for Aging.
Unmet Needs
The Green Team addressed the greatest unmet needs, in terms
of payers, providers and patients. These were their findings:
- Lack of referrals to endocrinologists.
Long lag time for patients.
Endocrinologists considered last resort – need involvement earlier
in process.
- Continuity of care - coordination of inpatient vs. outpatient treatment.
- Few programs targeted to obesity in multicultural patients.
- Better education on diabetes treatment, for primary care physicians.
- More emphasis on prevention.
Schools – incorporate physical education.
Parents – better education.
Gestational diabetes – lack of written material on topic.
Nursing/Adult living homes.
- Oral/2-hour glucose tolerance tests underutilized.
- Transportation to appointments.
- Prevention of complications.
- Flowcharts/strict control.
- Medical/nursing schools.
Lack of consistency in insurance benefits.
- Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for diabetes, as with other
products.
Who Should Be Involved
The Yellow Team focused on identifying which types of organizations
should be involved in building a collaborative, including which organizations
are important to forming a diabetes coalition.
- Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) - Medical directors/disease management.
- Medicare/Medicaid.
- Veterans Administration (VA).
- FMQAI.
- Self-insured employers.
- Business Groups on Health.
- Public health.
- Physicians/Physician groups.
- Pharmacy, eg, Walgreens.
- ADA/AADE/JDRF.
- Pharmacy/medical/nursing schools.
- Community groups.
- Hospitals.
- Ethnic groups.
- Media.
- Consumer advocacy groups.
- Celebrities.
After the group presentations, Mr. Wilcher took the podium once again
and asked the group if they were interested in forming a diabetes coalition
in the Tampa Bay area. After a virtually unanimous decision to move
forward on a collaborative effort, Mr. Wilcher closed the session and
thanked everyone for participating. It was noted that the follow-up
to this half-day program would include a subsequent invitation to a
follow-up steering committee meeting, for those who expressed interest.
