Sep 18 2009
The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) today announced a partnership that will expand counseling options for patients while offering community pharmacies a path to be compensated by Medicare and other insurers for diabetes management.
Traditionally, Diabetes Self-Management Education/Training (DSME/T) services have been limited to hospital settings, but falling reimbursements have created an access void for patients. Community pharmacists already play an active role in helping patients cope with diabetes, such as through prescription management or dispensing of glucose meters and therapeutic shoes. DSME/T is the next logical step.
The NCPA-AADE partnership will allow community pharmacists to obtain the training to conduct intensive, comprehensive educational classes targeted to diabetes patients to ensure every measure is being incorporated to improve their health outcomes and ultimately lower costs. The training will be provided by AADE, the recognized leader in DSME/T, and NCPA.
After fulfilling the 16 hours of certified training, comprised of online and live training, the community pharmacist will be eligible to serve as an instructor within an accredited diabetes education program. It also provides the pharmacist with the opportunity to accumulate enough hours providing DSME/T to be eligible to take the certified diabetes educator exam.
Additionally, training will be provided on how to apply to become an accredited DSME/T program, which is necessary for reimbursement. In order to offer DSME/T, community pharmacists should have sufficient room for conducting classes. These can either be within their pharmacy or in a community setting such as senior centers and assisted living homes.
“With each passing year the number of Americans with diabetes grows, along with the urgency to find proven solutions,” said Bruce T. Roberts, RPh, NCPA executive vice president and CEO. “In that vein, NCPA is excited to join with AADE to train community pharmacists to provide comprehensive and structured diabetes self-management services that will positively affect the lives of patients.”
“We are pleased to have formed a partnership with the National Community Pharmacists Association,” said Lana Vukovljak, MA, MS, AADE chief executive officer. “By working together to provide critical diabetes self-management education at the community level, more people with diabetes will receive the training they need to maintain optimal health.”
Besides differentiating themselves from chain pharmacists or mail order distributors, participating community pharmacists will have access to another revenue stream and raise their profile as clinically-trained health care professionals. Diabetes affects 23.6 million Americans (with 57 million having pre-diabetes) at a cost of $174 billion, according to 2007 data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As part of this effort, NCPA and AADE are pursuing additional sponsorships to measure the effectiveness of the DSME/T program. Armed with that information the program can expanded.
The two associations introduced NCPA members to the DSME/T offering in a conference call yesterday. The accreditation process is available on a limited basis and will be offered no more three times a year. The first opportunity will occur at NCPA’s 111th Annual Convention held October 17 – 21 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
To register for the first session go to www.ncpanet.org/calendarncpa/2009convention.php or call 1-866-575-4134.
“NCPA’s expectation is that many of our members will seize on this opportunity, because they know a better educated diabetes patient can avoid the more debilitating, but preventable aspects that come from the disease,” added Roberts.
http://www.ncpanet.org/
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