Mark’s Pharmacy Included in National and State Pharmacy Initiatives in Diabetes Care
Last week, Mark’s Pharmacy was notified by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) that they were 1 of 18 pharmacies nationwide selected to participate in a program to assist community pharmacies to help slow or stop the onset of diabetes.
Lifestyle change programs offered through the National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) are designed to help participants make lasting behavior changes such as eating healthier, increasing physical activity, and improving skills to cope with stress. Community pharmacies are in an ideal position to deliver and expand the National DPP. NCPA, in collaboration with the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (ADCES) and OmniSYS, is offering the program to encourage more pharmacies to provide DPP to their patients.
Research shows this lifestyle change program participants reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 58% (71% for individuals aged 60 and older), nearly twice as much as the reduction for those taking metformin with no training (31%).
Earlier, Mark’s Pharmacy was also notified by the Nebraska Pharmacists Association (NPA) that they were 1 of 20 pharmacies across Nebraska to participate in the Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) and Business Management program to support community pharmacy involvement to help those with diabetes better manage their disease and lifestyle and receive the diabetes support they need.
DSMES has been shown to improve health outcomes. However, despite considerable evidence that DSMES services are cost-effective and have a positive impact on diabetes-related outcomes, less than 5% of Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes and 6.8% of privately insured people with diagnosed diabetes have used DSMES services. Easy access to pharmacists and flexible scheduling makes community pharmacies excellent outlets to deliver and expand these services.
“We are very excited to be involved in these 2 programs, one that will help those who are as risk of diabetes to hopefully prevent it from happening and the second to help those with diabetes better manage their disease,” said Mark McCurdy, R.P. of Mark’s Pharmacy. “We have been offering some of these services before now. This will help us expand and strengthen our diabetes patient care activities.”
“There are large sections of our service area where DPP and DSMES are not currently offered,” added McCurdy. “We look forward to bringing this care to those areas. And for those areas where these services are offered, we are excited to work with those providers to offer times and locations to make access to these programs easier and more accessible for area residents.”
Pharmacy training has begun for these programs. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 emergency, patient involvement has been pushed back to mid-summer. At that time, Mark’s Pharmacy will screen for participants to be involved in each program.