News Release

ACP and ACP Foundation launch 3-year effort to improve diabetes care

Grant and Award Announcement

American College of Physicians

The American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American College of Physicians Foundation (ACPF) launched a major initiative to improve diabetes care in the United States. Novo Nordisk, a health care company and world leader in diabetes care, has given the ACP and ACP Foundation a multimillion-dollar unrestricted educational grant for the three-year effort.

The new initiative will create and disseminate educational tools and information for physicians, patients, and other members of the health care team and will work to raise awareness and teach the best practices in diabetes care.

The initiative will develop a self-management tool kit to help patients become working partners with their health care providers in diabetes care. The patient materials will include information for vulnerable populations such as the elderly, racial and ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, and those with low literacy levels -- groups for whom existing diabetes education materials are particularly limited.

"Internists provide most of the care of people with diabetes in the United States," said Charles K. Francis, MD, FACP, FACC, president of ACP. "We believe this intensive three-year project, combining an emphasis on highest standards of care, measurable goals for practice in office settings, and research can dramatically improve diabetes care."

"To tackle diabetes, we are looking beyond our 116,000 member internists to the health care team as a whole," said Dr. Francis. "ACP is dedicated to promoting evidence-based medicine for care of all chronic diseases, and we can make a difference in improving the care of patients with diabetes."

"Novo Nordisk is committed to working as a catalyst to improve diabetes prevention and treatment, thereby changing the course of the disease for good," said Alan C. Moses, MD, the company's associate vice president for clinical research and medical affairs in endocrinology. He added, "We strive to be the preferred partner for patients, healthcare providers, associations and others who share our vision and plans to defeat diabetes. A clear example of this is our partnership with ACP, as this highly respected and effective organization brings tremendous educational opportunities and resources to its membership, those physicians on the front lines of diabetes care. The high quality programming offered by ACP and underwritten by Novo Nordisk will help create new solutions to address the complicated issue of diabetes care in the U.S."

The goals of the three-year project are to:

  • Increase physician awareness of the components of high-quality diabetes care and of the gap between current practice and acceptable standards of diabetes care.
  • Provide proven educational interventions to improve diabetes care.
  • Recognize physicians and physician practices that demonstrably improve care of their patients with diabetes.

At the ACP Annual Session in April in San Francisco, attended by more than 6,000 internists and other physicians, ACP offered 16 workshops and courses related to diabetes care. In the next three years, ACP will enhance diabetes information in many of its existing educational formats, such as PIER, the Web-based point-of-care clinical decision support tool; MKSAP, the medical knowledge self-assessment program; and ACPOnline, the College's Web site. ACP will also develop new materials that concentrate on team-based care.

###

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical-specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States.

The ACP Foundation exists to support the mission of the American College of Physicians and to improve the health of the public through the creation and support of programs in education, research, service, and professionalism.

Novo Nordisk is a healthcare company and a world leader in diabetes care.

NOTES TO EDITOR:
To contact Dr. Rosof of the ACP Foundation, Dr. Francis and Dr. Snow of the American College of Physicians, call Susan Anderson at 215-351-2653 or 1-800-523-1546, ext. 2653. From April 13-16, call the ACP Annual Session Press Office in San Francisco, 415-978-3585.

To contact Dr. Moses of Novo Nordisk Inc, call Susan Jackson at 609-919-7776.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.