Reducing the Burden of Cancer in North Carolina: A Data and Resource Guide

Cancer is the leading cause of death in North Carolina, with more than 21,000 North Carolinians expected to die from cancer in 2018 alone.

Moreover, cancer imposes its burden across North Carolina inequitably along racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomical lines. For example, the mortality rate for breast cancer among African-American women is 47% higher than that of white women, despite having a similar incidence rate.

Take It Back to Prevent Diabetes

As many as 90% of people who have prediabetes aren’t aware that they have it. Prediabetes puts people at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and its many serious complications, such as heart disease and vision loss. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed through successful participation in a National Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle change program.

Action Planning to Increase Insurance Coverage for Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes can be prevented or delayed through National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) lifestyle change programs that help people with prediabetes achieve a 5-7% weight loss and increase their physical activity. Insurance coverage of the cost of participating in National DPP lifestyle change programs can make it more likely that people with prediabetes will enroll in these evidence-based programs..

Missouri Expands Diabetes Education Offerings in Pharmacies

Missouri needs more diabetes self-management education (DSME) programs to meet the need indicated by its high rate of diabetes. Because people with diabetes usually need medicine, they often have a relationship with a community pharmacist that provides an opportunity to engage them in the evidence-based DSME programs that can help them to control their disease. Yet setting up such programs is difficult for community pharmacies due to program accreditation fees and the time and...

Pharmacists Help their Patients Take Medication as Prescribed

Patients with type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure often need medication to help control their conditions, but medications may not help if patients don't take them as prescribed. Primary care clinicians can be challenged in promoting medication adherence for many reasons. This can have negative effects, such as higher medical costs and worsening of the patient's chronic condition...

A Team-based Care Approach to Reach Rural, Underserved Virginia Patients

Successfully treating high blood pressure, a common health condition in the United States, often requires prescription medication dispensed by a pharmacist. Blood pressure control improves when pharmacists use a team-based approach to work collaboratively with primary care providers to provide chronic care management (CCM)...

Promoting the Pharmacist Patient Care Process to Advance Team-based Care

According to the Community Preventive Services Task Force, blood pressure control improves when pharmacists are part of a collaborative healthcare team managing a patient's hypertension treatment. In collaboration with other providers on the healthcare team, the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) helps pharmacists use a consistent, patient-centered approach to optimize health outcomes, such as blood pressure control...

Using a Team-based Approach to Managing Medication for Chronic Diseases

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends team-based care to improve patients’ blood pressure and to control type 2 diabetes. Patient care teams include the patient's primary care provider and other professionals, such as pharmacists and community health workers. The Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) helps pharmacists to optimize patient health outcomes by using a consistent approach in collaboration with other provider..

Increasing Minority Participation in the National DPP

Type 2 diabetes occurs unequally among racial and ethnic groups in North Carolina. For example, almost 15 percent of African-Americans and 19 percent of American Indians in North Carolina report a diabetes diagnosis (2012 data), compared to slightly less than 10 percent of non-Hispanic whites. About 630,000 residents of North Carolina report having prediabetes, a condition which can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes (2013 data)...

Promoting Team Based Care and Pharmacists’ Clinical Practice

One in three U.S. adults has hypertension. Successfully treating this condition often requires prescription medication. As essential members of the healthcare team, pharmacists can take on expanded, clinically-oriented patient care services and offer patient education to support the management of chronic conditions, including hypertension. According to the Community Preventive Services Task Force, when pharmacists are part of the healthcare team managing a patient...