Media Release

For: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: June 4, 2003
Contact: Dona Goldman, RN, MPH,  401-222-6957

Department of Health Receives Grant to Improve Diabetes Care

          The Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) received a grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for $100,000 to improve the quality of diabetes care in the state.  The grant establishes the Rhode Island Chronic Care Collaborative (RICCC).    The RICCC operates through a partnership including HEALTH’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, Quality Partners of Rhode Island, Neighborhood Health Plan of RI, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Blue Chip, United Healthcare with the Hallet Diabetes Center, and Brown University Medical School.  

          The “Collaborative Model” was developed and tested by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to improve the quality of diabetes care in primary care settings.  Through this grant, 10 physicians, with their office staff teams, will form a “collaborative” and test a series of small-scale changes in the delivery of diabetes care over 12 months.  The practices will use electronic chronic disease registries, to monitor patients’ needs and progress toward reaching diabetes self-management goals. Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Blue Chip,  Neighborhood Health Plan of RI, and UnitedHealthcare provided additional funding for support teams.  

          “Preventing and treating diabetes poses many challenges,” stated Patricia A. Nolan, MD, MPH, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health. “Primary care physicians can help prevent diabetes and reduce its complications by addressing the problems of obesity and lack of physical activity with all their patients.  For patients already diagnosed with diabetes, coordinating referrals, eye screenings, patient education, and preventive services can be difficult to accomplish in the typical office practice system. This collaborative project will allow us to examine how we care for diabetics and suggest ways to promote regular preventive services”. 

          “The ‘Collaborative’ is an opportunity for HEALTH and its partners to work on innovative ways to improve coordination and quality of care to reduce the risk of diabetes, its complications, and premature death among persons with diabetes.” said Dona Goldman RN, MPH, Program Director, Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.

          Local physicians participating in the “Collaborative” include Dennis Botelho, MD and Raymond Maxim, MD, of University Medical Group, Arnold Goldberg, MD, Memorial Hospital of RI Family Care Center, Paul Levinson, MD and Fadi Mansourati, MD, Memorial Hospital of RI Internal Medicine Group, Steven Kempner, MD, Coastal Medical Group, Frank Basile, MD, University Medicine Foundation, Ellen Lee, MD, Chad Brown Health Center, Munawar Azam, MD, of St. Joseph’s Health Services, Mark Fagan MD, Rhode Island Hospital Division of Internal Medicine, Elizabeth Toll MD, Rhode Island Hospital Medical/Pediatric Clinic, Thomas Guttmacher, MD, Tri-Town Health Center and Miguel Prieto MD, Providence Community Health Center.