The New York Diabetes Coalition is a unique collaboration of managed care plans, professional medical societies, state and county health officials, community organizations and other health-care focused agencies dedicated to improving the health of the nearly one million New Yorkers who live with diabetes. The Coalition seeks to accomplish this by helping health care providers deliver state of the art care for diabetes through the promotion of tools and technology and by helping patients by providing tools for self-management and resources to eliminate barriers to care, close gaps in services and manage the complexities of diabetes care. This initiative, initiated in 1999 in Westchester County and then adopted across the state, entails these main elements:
- A common guideline: All health plans participating in the NYDC have endorsed a common guideline for adult diabetes care. The guideline is based on the clinical recommendations of the American Diabetes Association. The NYDC guideline is a one-page comprehensive tool with detailed information about procedures, frequency and goals for diabetes care. By delivering a common, consistent message, the Coalition aims to increase the use of standard treatment guidelines by clinicians throughout New York.
- Practice tools: A set of “best practices” tools have been developed that will support the elements of the guidelines. These tools are available to all physicians practicing family medicine, internal medicine, general practice and endocrinology.
- Collaboration with NYS DOH
- In 2003, the Coalition was awarded a three year grant from the New York State Department of Health Diabetes Prevention and Control Program to implement a diabetes patient registry in the private practice setting and provide assistance and training to re-organize workflow based on the principles of the Chronic Care Model. Currently, the Coalition is working with several practice sites in Westchester and Sullivan counties.
- NYS adoption of NYDC guidelines and other practice tools as part of a comprehensive diabetes management and prevention tool kit to be made available to practitioners online and by CD-Rom.
For more information, please visit the NYDC web site at www.nydc.org or these web sites:
American Diabetes Association
National Diabetes Education Program
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
New York State Department of Health Diabetes Prevention and Control Program
