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BALTIMORE, Md.—April 29, 2011—The exponential increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is frequently referred to as an epidemic. Diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure, nontraumatic lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States (US), as well as a major cause of heart disease and stroke.
Substantial evidence indicates that the intensive management of diabetes mellitus and its known risk factors can significantly decrease the development and/or progression of diabetes-related complications. Despite wide acceptance of treatment guidelines, the optimal management of patients with type 2 diabetes remains a challenge. Identified practice gaps—including an insufficient knowledge of consensus guidelines, lack of control over diabetes-related complications, and challenges with patient adherence to lifestyle and self-management strategies—suggest that there is an ongoing need for performance improvement (PI) continuing medical education (CME) in diabetes care.
The Endocrine Society and Med-IQ (“The Collaboration”) are pleased to announce the availability of their third-consecutive, well-received complimentary PI CME initiative that helps primary care clinicians improve the care of patients with type 2 diabetes:
Performance Improvement Strategies in Diabetes Care (“diabetes PI CME”)
This certified education is designed to help clinicians improve in three key clinical areas: glycemic control, prevention of diabetes-related complications, and lifestyle modifications and self-management strategies.
“Recognized as a vanguard in primary care education, we have designed this PI CME initiative to help primary care physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who are on the front line of diabetes care overcome clinical and practice management barriers to successfully manage the health of patients with diabetes," said Robert C. Bartel, Director of Education for The Endocrine Society.
Leading Diabetes Education and Participation
In just 3 years, more than 22,042 healthcare professionals have participated in diabetes PI CME’s individual knowledge- and competence-based activities, with more than 3,060 physicians participating in the PI process. To date, 146 clinicians have completed the three-stage PI process and provided both pre- and post-activity patient data; more than 7,000 additional healthcare professionals are currently in the process. An analysis of chart data indicate statistically significant improvements in patient outcomes related to blood pressure and glycemic control, as well as several measures of comprehensive diabetes care including, lifestyle modification counseling with specific and measurable goals; monitoring for dyslipidemia, microalbuminaria, neuropathy and retinopathy; and appropriate SMBG counseling.
The Collaboration is committed to extending the education to reach additional healthcare professionals and continuing to offer opportunities to those who have already participated. The 2011 initiative features:
- An enhanced user-friendly interface
- Revised clinical content to reflect updates to type 2 diabetes practice guidelines and recommendations
- Educational activities and PI performance measures that match today’s standards of patient care
- More robust data sets of all participants in the PI process
- An upgraded online PI platform to meet ABIM’s new standards
Through the American Medical Association (AMA)-standardized PI process the collaboration can provide guideline-based performance standards across key areas in diabetes care, as well as tools and resources to help healthcare professionals attain clinical goals.
Healthcare professionals may also access useful educational resources, including three certified CME, electronic Implementation Guides. Each guide pertains to a specific clinical area and provides a detailed discussion of key points, recommendations, and best practices related to diabetes care. The guides also include case examples to help reinforce key strategies in the text and physician- and patient-based forms and tools to help implement suggested recommendations.
The educational design, measurement protocols, and preliminary data from the 2010 iteration of this PI CME initiative were published in the peer-reviewed journal, CE Measure. That iteration was approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) for level 4 maintenance of certification (MOC), and the reapplication process for this year’s series is currently underway.
“In tandem with The Endocrine Society, we will continue to use this initiative to assess quality indicators and process/performance measures based on everyday practice situations,” said William A. Mencia, MD, CCMEP, Vice President of Education and Medical Affairs at Med-IQ. “Ultimately we will analyze the effect of Diabetes PI CME on clinical practice and patient health.”
Diabetes PI CME has been established to capture outcomes data up to Moore Level 5 (performance). This initiative is sponsored by Med-IQ in collaboration with The Endocrine Society. This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. This series is supported by an educational grant from Lilly USA, LLC.
To learn more about Performance Improvement Strategies in Diabetes Care, visit www.pi-iq.com/diabetes.
The Endocrine Society
Founded in 1916, The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest, largest and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. Today, The Endocrine Society’s membership consists of over 14,000 scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in more than 100 countries. Society members represent all basic, applied, and clinical interests in endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endo-society.org.
About Med-IQ
Med-IQ, recipient of the Alliance for CME’s 2011 William Campbell Felch Award for Research in CME, is an accredited provider of education that inspires healthcare professionals through activities that deliver sophisticated outcomes-based educational designs with measurable results in professional competence and performance. Med-IQ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the California Board of Registered Nursing (CBRN), and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing medical education to physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, respectively. We are a leader in the development of performance improvement (PI) and quality improvement (QI) CME initiatives. To learn more about Med-IQ, visit www.Med-IQ.com, follow us on Twitter, connect with us on LinkedIn, and become a fan on Facebook.
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