Research Description
Diabetes is a common health condition with differences observed in diabetes management and outcomes based on race/ethnicity and rurality. Comprehensive primary care is one approach that may help clinicians deliver better care to their patients with diabetes. When patients receive most of their health care from their primary care clinician through the course of their life, then they may develop strong, trusting relationships with their clinician. This project will examine how comprehensive primary care can impact disparities in diabetes outcomes between racial/ethnic groups and by geography. The project will use billing data from Medicare paired with interviews with leaders at primary care practices to understand the relationship between comprehensive primary care and diabetes management and outcomes.Research Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?There are pervasive and persistent disparities in the burden of diabetes and its complications by rurality and race/ethnicity. Primary care is integral to addressing disparities in diabetes due to its role as first point of contact for care. Comprehensive primary care – defined as primary care meeting the majority of a patient’s physical and common mental health needs – is a pillar of high-quality primary care. We will examine if comprehensive primary care can promote quality and equity through better management of diabetes.
If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?This project will help primary care clinicians determine which services they should offer to improve care for people with diabetes.
Why important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play?I'm interested in how health care organizations - especially primary care - can improve patient outcomes by transforming their care delivery processes. My goal is to develop pragmatic, actionable insights that primary care teams can implement. Primary care teams need support caring for patients with chronic conditions, including diabetes, to ensure these patients receive the services they need. Having grown-up in rural Kentucky, I'm particularly concerned about how we can improve access to high-quality primary care for these populations.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?I hope to see a greater role for primary care in managing the health needs of patients with diabetes. Primary care should serve as the home for these patients - the first point of contact that delivers comprehensive services while coordinating with specialists as needed. Whole-person, patient centered care that is housed in primary care can ensure patients with diabetes have access to high-quality, equitable care.