Keywords

adherence, evidence-based guidelines, U.S. preventive services task force, diabetes prevention, diabetes screening, Diabetes Prevention Program

 

Authors

  1. Brunisholz, Kimberly D.
  2. Conroy, Molly B.
  3. Belnap, Thomas
  4. Joy, Elizabeth A.
  5. Srivastava, Raj

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Measuring adherence to the 2015 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) diabetes prevention guidelines can inform implementation efforts to prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes. A retrospective cohort was used to study patients without a diagnosis of diabetes attributed to primary care clinics within two large healthcare systems in our state to study adherence to the following: (1) screening at-risk patients and (2) referring individuals with confirmed prediabetes to participate in an intensive behavioral counseling intervention, defined as a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recognized Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). Among 461,866 adults attributed to 79 primary care clinics, 45.7% of patients were screened, yet variability at the level of the clinic ranged from 14.5% to 83.2%. Very few patients participated in a CDC-recognized DPP (0.52%; range 0%-3.53%). These findings support the importance of a systematic implementation strategy to specifically target barriers to diabetes prevention screening and referral to treatment.