Improve Care of Patients With Diabetes

Check out free online CME that aims to improve outcomes in patients with diabetes by raising awareness about the vital role quality measurement plays in improving care.

The program, "Improving Outcomes in Diabetes Care: Benefiting Patients and Practitioners," is designed to meet the needs of family physicians and others involved in the care and management of patients with diabetes. According to program sources, diabetes is the fifth leading disease-related cause of death in the United States; nearly 14 million people live with diagnosed diabetes, and an estimated 6 million more are unaware they have the disease.

The educational program is spearheaded by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, or NCQA, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care, and CECity, a provider of online CME and quality improvement activities. The program is funded by a grant from Merck & Co. Inc.

Content for the program was developed by the AAFP, the American Association of Diabetes Educators and the American Osteopathic Association.

Physicians who want to participate in the online CME program can access it through the NCQA Web site or go directly to CE Medicus, CECity's public online CME portal, to set up a free personal CME account. There is no charge for the mandatory registration.

Bruce Bagley, M.D., AAFP's medical director of quality improvement, is one of four program faculty members for the diabetes CME program. Bagley's contribution to the program includes content about AAFP's METRIC, or Measuring, Evaluating and Translating Research Into Care, initiative.

METRIC confers CME credit for completing practice-based performance improvement projects and debuted in January 2005 with a module on diabetes. Modules on coronary artery disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have since been added to METRIC's offerings.

Participation in METRIC can help FPs fulfill the requirement for Part IV -- the performance-in-practice module -- of the American Board of Family Medicine's Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians.