START Diabetes Prevention: A Multi-Level Strategy for Primary Care Clinics

BackgroundPrediabetes, a high-risk state for developing diabetes, affects more than 1 in 3 adults nationally. However, <5% of people with prediabetes are receiving any treatment for prediabetes. Prior intervention studies for increasing prediabetes treatment uptake have largely focused on individual barriers with few multi-level interventions that address clinician- and system-level barriers. ObjectiveTo measure the effectiveness of a multi-level intervention on uptake of prediabetes treatment in a primary care clinic. DesignPragmatic study of the START (Screen, Test, Act, Refer and Treat) Diabetes Prevention intervention. ParticipantsThe START Diabetes Prevention intervention was implemented in a suburban primary care clinic outside of Baltimore compared to a control clinic in the same area over a 12-month period. InterventionSTART Diabetes Prevention intervention included a structured workflow, shared decision-making resources and electronic health record clinical decision support tools. Main MeasuresUptake of prediabetes treatment, defined as Diabetes Prevention Program referral, metformin prescription and/or medical nutrition referral within 30 days of any PCC visit. Key ResultsWe demonstrated greater uptake of preventive treatment among patients with prediabetes in the intervention clinic vs. control clinic receiving usual care (11.6% vs. 6.7%, p<0.001). More patients in the intervention vs. control clinic reported their PCC discussed prediabetes with them (60% vs. 48%, p=0.002) and more felt overall that they understood what their doctor was telling them about prediabetes and that their opinion was valued. The START Diabetes Prevention Strategy had greater acceptability and usefulness to PCCs at the study end compared to baseline. ConclusionsA low-touch multi-level intervention is effective in increasing prediabetes treatment uptake. The intervention was also acceptable and feasible for clinicians, and enhanced patient understanding and discussions of prediabetes with their clinicians.