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Can a Chronic Care Model Collaborative Reduce Heart Disease Risk in Patients with Diabetes?
People with type 2 diabetes mellitus have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease; it accounts for approximately half of all their deaths. A collaborative intervention is a method whereby health care organizations apply quality improvement measures and affect organizational change, but little is known about its effectiveness on outcomes.
In this study, the authors examine the efficacy of a collaborative intervention to implement the chronic care model (CCM) for diabetes patients. Data were collected from 13 intervention sites (613 patients from intervention sites and 557 from control sites). The intervention consisted of a series of three learning sessions and a final meeting. The authors analyzed the impact of the intervention on the 10-year predicted risk of cardiovascular disease for both the control group and intervention group. Baseline characteristics were measured for both categories.
Key Findings:
- Participants in both groups had improved blood pressure; lipid levels and HbA1c levels during the observation period.
- The intervention group had a 2.1 percent greater reduction in predicted cardiovascular events when compared to the control group.
This study shows that the introduction of the chronic care model is associated with a reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease for patients with diabetes.