Cooper University Hospital congratulates the Camden Coalition which has been awarded $3.45 million award from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to allow the Coalition to build upon their already successful Diabetes Collaborative by intensely focusing on 2-3 primary care practices that will each receive tens of thousands of dollars in human, clinical, technological, and financial resources over the next 5 years.
The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers announced the launch of their Integrated Diabetes Care (IDC) Program, a new initiative aimed at transforming the city’s primary care practices into high-quality, evidence-based health centers. With this new funding, the Coalition will transform the way practices approach chronic disease management. They have developed an innovative framework for thorough diabetes coordination and care, which will serve as a model for primary care practices nationwide.
“Through this program, Camden primary care practices will undergo a journey of practice transformation and continuous improvement,” explained Jeffrey Brenner, MD, Cooper physician and Executive Director of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. “We are changing the culture of primary care and expect that this intensive approach to diabetes will evolve into a more comprehensive chronic disease care model.”
The Coalition has already made great strides in its goal to reduce diabetes disparities in Camden. With the help of a $2 million grant from the Merck Company Foundation, the Coalition has supported Camden primary care providers through professional and patient education, health information technology, and citywide stakeholder collaboration for the past three years. It came to light, however, that, in general, Camden practices simply lack the financial and human resources necessary to provide the highest level of care. Over the course of the next five years, successful applicants will work towards transforming their practices based on the principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model. For starters, the Coalition will provide each practice with a nurse to provide care coordination, education, and outreach care to patients with poorly controlled diabetes. Lay-health workers will also be employed to provide peer-peer education, support, and healthcare system navigation. Project management, organizational development, health information technology, professional education, behavioral health and wellness services, financial incentives, and mentorship by a board-certified endocrinologist are also integral pieces of this program.
“Camden residents with diabetes are twice as likely to go to the ER as patients without diabetes. Once in the ER, patients with diabetes are twice as likely to be admitted to the hospital. This all leads to escalating costs and low-quality, fragmented care.
The goal of the Coalition’s IDC program is for patients with diabetes to get better, more individualized and coordinated care from their primary care providers,” explained Dr. Steven Kaufman, Director of Chronic Care Initiatives for the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers and Assistant Professor of Endocrinology at Cooper University Hospital- Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. “Ultimately, our goal is to help all Camden primary care practices to provide proactive, individualized, patient-centered care at a lower cost. Better healthcare while freeing up dollars for other state and federal programs is something everyone can get behind.