No appointments necessary: A new way to support diabetes and other chronic conditions
As we come to the end of National Diabetes Month, we must maintain a critical focus on how we prevent and manage this and many other chronic diseases in the United States. While more than 30 million Americans are living with diabetes – and increased risks of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and vision loss[1] – the prevalence of the condition has no silver-bullet treatment. In fact, the opposite is true: managing diabetes is a complex combination of daily medical protocols and holistic lifestyle changes.
Diabetes, like many other chronic conditions, requires daily – if not hourly – attention. Chronic conditions can be consuming for patients and their loved ones, rearranging routines and lifestyles. For this reason, managing diabetes and other chronic conditions is much more than a question of taking the right medication at the right time. Instead, it’s about offering better daily support, so that patients have the resources and tools they need to stay on track and healthy.
What does daily support look like? Affordable and convenient resources for managing medications, nutrition coaching and planning, accessible testing all informed by a holistic understanding of patients’ daily concerns. And that’s just the start. At CVS Health, we are innovating to transform chronic care into a consumer-centered system. With 60 percent of American adults living with chronic conditions, [2] these innovations have the power to reshape how individuals, families, and entire communities successfully manage chronic disease.
Harnessing the Power of Community Connections
Regular health screenings and proper medication adherence are the cornerstone of managing chronic diseases like diabetes. And yet, infrequent doctor’s visits and incorrect medication use are incredibly prevalent – only one in three patients who have a chronic disease has seen a physician in the past year. To improve the patient experience, we must tap into additional health and medical experts. Local pharmacists are a perfect example. A community staple, the local pharmacy is a familiar environment – people visit as often as 18 to 24 times a year. Here, community pharmacists have an opportunity to speak to patients about their medications and treatment plans. At more than 9,000 CVS pharmacies nationwide, those conversations are happening every day. And at one of our HealthHUB? locations, that conversation could help a woman who needs help managing her diabetes get a monthly A1C check, pick up insulin, find the right glucose meter and replace compression socks, often in less than an hour.
Providing Personalized, Coordinated Support
The most effective care for complex chronic conditions will be personalized and integrated. Advances in data analytics help deliver support that meets people where they are, when they need it. The Transform Diabetes Care solution from CVS Health analyzes pharmacy insights and daily biometric data to identify personalized counseling opportunities. These interventions, combined with our local services and pharmacist-led counseling, have had a significant impact on patient outcomes: More than 50 percent of members who enrolled in the Transform Diabetes Care Program with uncontrolled diabetes have moved to a controlled status.
Tapping into the Promise of Digital and On-Demand Health Tools
Digital tools are increasingly vital to personalized, holistic chronic care: 51 percent of providers say that their patients are currently using digital tools to manage their diabetes. Connected technology allows for precise disease monitoring, with minimal disruptions to daily life. For diabetes, the connected glucometer has revolutionized blood glucose monitoring, allowing pharmacist-led teams to see information about patients without requiring a visit or test. Similarly, with the CVS Caremark MedRemind app, patients can stay on track with their medication schedules through customized reminders delivered straight to their smartphone.
CVS Health believes that it’s time for a new approach to chronic care. By putting patients at the center of care delivery, we’re bringing new services and technologies into people’s homes, communities, and daily lives – a more approachable, coordinated path to better health. As part of this project, we’ve partnered with the American Diabetes Association on their Count Me In campaign to highlight the numbers that matter most when it comes to those living with, at risk for and supporting those with diabetes. I welcome you to follow along and join the conversation using #CountMeIn.
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/chronic-diseases.htm
Parkinson's Advocate
4 年Daniel Finke - this is true of PD too! I appreciate your and CVS Health desire to connect with those in local communities. To discover overlapping symptoms, to match growing needs with available resources, to work with those who are “feet on the street” and can help serve as valuable link and connectors to the people. How can we “Cure the Disconnect?” I ask. I am impressed with what you and Aetna, a CVS Health Company are attempting to do together. I love Aetna Foundation’s Community Health stories as well! https://news.aetna.com/healthy-communities-news/
Purpose and Passion : Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention amongst people with diabetes #blacklegsmatter,#diabetes,#neuropathy,#LEAP4pwd
5 年I loved this article. I wish my Uncle Red was still alive so I could share it with him.? He was a proud graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy where he attended on the GI Bill after serving in the Navy in WW II . He worked in family owned pharmacies in Brockton, MA where I grew up as well. I worked in these pharmacies during high school and into college during the mid to late 1970's. I really respected the great relationships he had with the customers. They relied on his medical knowledge, expertise and advice. Their relationship with him was stronger than any doctor patient relationship I have ever seen. When I told my uncle that I was planning to become a pharmacist his reaction was not what I anticipated. He told me that what I was attracted to, the interaction with the customers, the trusting relationships, the professional respect, etc... was all about to disappear as the profession was about to be dominated by big corporate entities. Instead I became a Podiatrist, enjoyed a great career and focused on diabetic foot problems, wound care and advocating for lower extremity amputation prevention.? But I will always have fond memories of those days at my uncle's store. His work mattered so much because it was way more than filling a prescription. He educated people about their disease or problem, he gave them hope and encouragement. Doctor's , even back then did not have time to do that . Nor did they have the trusting relationship that my Uncle Red had with them . He knew them and their entire family so well because they were his "frequent flyers" as he often fondly referred to his regular customers. They loved him and he loved them in return and it was very special. I am so happy to see things that are old become new again. CVS is giving people what they want and need and it is going to be a wonderful experience for all involved. Uncle Red would have loved it !?