Urban Health Institute Staff Present Diabetes Group Visit Model at 2015 American Diabetes Association Annual Meeting

At the June 2015 American Diabetes Association annual meeting, staff of the Urban Health Institute (UHI, also called the Cooper Advanced Care Center) presented findings from a study evaluating whether a diabetes group medical visit model improved access to specialty care for poor, urban patients.

Reduced access is a significant barrier to effective healthcare for vulnerable populations. With support from The Nicholson Foundation, UHI is addressing this barrier through an advanced model of multi-specialty, integrated outpatient healthcare delivery focused on improving primary and specialty care and reducing the costs of care for underserved populations in Camden, New Jersey.

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UHI’s healthcare delivery model incorporates several approaches to improving the effectiveness and productivity of patient care, including group visits. UHI staff developed a group visit designed specifically for patients with diabetes. An interdisciplinary team of healthcare providers, including endocrinologists, pharmacists, licensed practical nurses, and patient navigators, conducts the visits, which include medical review of individual patient records, patient education, and a facilitated group discussion. The visits are conducted in either English or Spanish for groups of up to 12 patients.

Results showed that the group visit model improved care for these medically complex patients. The visits improved patient access to new and follow-up visits, decreased the percentage of patients lost to follow-up care, and increased the number of patients seen per clinic session.

The study authors* concluded that group medical visits are a viable model for providing diabetes care, especially given the shortage of endocrinologists available to care for this patient population. The authors also noted that, to their knowledge, this was the first description of an endocrine specialty group medical visit.

* Jason Keiner, BS¹; Valerie Ganetsky, PharmD, BCPS^1,2; Stephanie Brown, BS¹; Rachel Adams, RN, ND, APNc¹; Jeffrey Brenner, MD^1,3; Steven Kaufman, MD^1,3

¹ Cooper University Hospital–Urban Health Institute, Camden, NJ; ² Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, PA; ³ Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, NJ