Fifteen free and charitable clinics across the country will receive funding to help reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes as part of two grant programs from the AMA Foundation and AmeriCares.
An estimated 86 million American adults have prediabetes, but only one in 10 of these people knows they are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The patients served by these clinics are generally low-income populations that suffer disproportionately from poor health outcomes associated with prediabetes and are at the highest risk of developing clinical diabetes.
Each clinic awarded a grant will receive $10,000 over the next two years to implement the lifestyle change program that is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Diabetes Prevention Program. A recent study showed that such lifestyle change programs have long-lasting benefits for participants through preventing or delaying progression to type 2 diabetes.
The AMA Foundation awarded grants to eight free clinics through its Healthy Communities/Healthy America program, and AmeriCares awarded grants to seven free clinics through its Transforming Prediabetes Care Initiative. Staff members at each clinic will receive training on how to deliver the CDC’s program to clinic patients.
Both grant programs will build upon work the AMA has been accomplishing through its Improving Health Outcomes initiative. The AMA joined with the YMCA of the USA over the past year to increase referrals to the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program, which is part of the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program.
Physician practice sites in four states—Delaware, Florida, Indiana and Minnesota—are screening patients for prediabetes and referring them to the program at their local YMCAs. Participating physicians receive updates on their patients’ progress to incorporate into their care plans. The free clinics will use prediabetes screening and enrollment tools based on those that the AMA created for its work with these physician practices.
