Family Medicine doctor to lead $2.6 million NIH diabetes study
Photo courtesy Department of Family Medicine
The University of Minnesota, in collaboration with the Medica Research Institute and the HealthPartners Institute, has been awarded $2.6 Million of funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) to study how Minnesota primary care providers can improve diabetes care.
Kevin A. Peterson, MD, MPH, Family Medicine and Community Health faculty member and director the Center of Excellence in Primary Care, is a principal investigator. The project, titled “Identifying Primary Care Practice Components Leading to Optimal Diabetes Care in Patient Centered Medical Homes,” will evaluate data from 2008 to 2019 to determine which models of primary care delivery are most likely to improve the clinical outcome of the individuals with diabetes. According to Peterson, Minnesota has some of the best diabetes care in the country, and this study will help show why.
The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of care, known as the Health Care Home (HCH) model in Minnesota, has been widely regarded as the preferred model for delivering health care nationwide. Since the adoption of a legislative health care reform establishing a standard criteria for PCMH certification 2008, more than two thirds of Minnesota primary care practices have earned PCMH certification, making Minnesota a prime place to study the efficiency of the PCMH model of care on diabetes patients.
The NIH funds will assist with an in-depth analysis of the cost and impact of Minnesota’s pioneering legislation that implemented HCH redesign in Minnesota over the past ten years, providing the best evidence for what works and what does not work in the new approach to health care for people with diabetes.
The potential impact of this study could change the way we care for diabetes in the United States. “If Minnesota legislation has effectively contributed to improving the clinical outcomes of thousands of people with diabetes, it will provide an important example for the rest of the nation for how to approach improving health care,” says Peterson.
The planned start date of the project is August 1, 2016.
View the press release for this announcement.
Note: an earlier version of this message reported $3.1 Million. The final amount is actually $2.6 Million.