Campaign to Raise Healthcare Provider Awareness of Prediabetes

Submission Date: September 2014

Entry Type: Case Study

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: New Mexico

States/Territories Involved: New Mexico

Funding Source: NACDD

Other Funding:

NACDD funding

Domain Addressed:

Community-Clinical Linkages, Environmental Approaches

Public Health Issue:

• Most people with prediabetes do not know they have it and that there is a program that can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. Without lifestyle changes to improve their health, 15 – 30% of people with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes within five years.
• The Diabetes Prevention Program research study showed that making modest behavior changes helped participants lose 5 – 7% of their body weight and reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58% in people with prediabetes.
• Raising awareness of prediabetes risk factors and the National Diabetes Prevention Program’s (National DPP) evidence-based lifestyle change program among people at risk for developing diabetes can promote increased used of the lifestyle change program.

Project Objectives:

To develop and implement a marketing plan for educating healthcare providers about the evidence-based lifestyle change program

Program Action:

To capture the attention of healthcare providers, the New Mexico Diabetes DPCP contracted with a marketing firm to create a plan to develop, test, and implement an eye-catching awareness campaign. The campaign, which was based on CDC materials, included a brochure to raise awareness among providers about the evidence-based lifestyle change program, National Diabetes Prevention Program, and a poster for providers to display in their clinics. Along with the campaign, the DPCP planned to partner with New Mexico Health Care Takes on Diabetes (NMHCTOD) to educate the provider population about prediabetes during professional meetings.

Prior to campaign development, the DPCP identified 12 key partners from health plans, hospitals, and clinics and arranged a brainstorming meeting to obtain their input. At this meeting, attendees defined strategies that would work best to increase provider awareness and willingness to refer patients. The contractor subsequently refined the campaign objective, target audience, and ways to reach them. Campaign materials were adapted from CDC materials. The final products included a provider brochure and a poster. Both were eye-catching, using bold, red font and color boxes to draw attention to important messages. On the front of the brochure was the message: “You’d jump in front of a bus for your patients. But what if that bus was diabetes?” The rest of the brochure contained information about the evidence-based lifestyle change program and patient criteria for enrollment. The poster was designed to look like an infographic, and the color and font matched that of the brochure. The poster used a question-and-answer format to raise awareness and provide information. The three questions were: “Am I at risk?”, “Why do I care?”, and “What should I do?” Additionally, the DPCP funded NMHCTOD to continue healthcare provider awareness through planned education sessions.

“The recommendation form will be a great way for healthcare providers to ensure their patients meet the eligibility criteria for the National Diabetes Prevention Program.”      -Susan Baum, MD, MPH

View campaign materials at: stopdiabetesnm.org

State Health Department Roles

• Used data, including state profile and maps that highlighted areas and populations of greatest risk, from the Directors of Health Promotion and Education to determine the geographic area covered by the awareness campaign
• Funded a contractor to create a marketing plan to increase healthcare provider awareness
• Identified and obtained feedback from relevant stakeholders (health plans, hospitals, and clinics) for use in developing campaign materials and messages
• Extended implementation of the campaign by linking with New Mexico Health Care Takes On Diabetes

Partners

• McKee Wallwork & Company
• Health plans, hospitals, and clinics
• New Mexico Health Care Takes on Diabetes
• Directors of Health Promotion and Education

Impact/Accomplishments:

• 1 Awareness campaign planned
  • Targeting healthcare providers in 2 counties: Bernalillo and Santa Fe
  • An estimated 220,854 adults with prediabetes living in the geographic area to be covered by this campaign

Challenges/Lessons Learned:

Factors Supporting Success

• Dedicated Funding: $88,144
• Experience delivering health communication and marketing campaigns
• Some prediabetes education tools in place to raise awareness among health professionals and the public
• Worked with a creative marketing team
• Committed set of stakeholders provided input that was instrumental in developing the campaign materials and messages
• Reviewed CDC materials as campaign materials and messages were developed
• Used state funding to extend implementation of the campaign through its contract with NMCHTOD

Challenges and Solutions
Challenge: Contracting procedures took longer than expected which delayed the awareness campaign
Solution: Divided the work between a referral system contractor and a marketing contractor in order to efficiently complete as much work possible in the short amount of time remaining in the project and decided to focus solely on healthcare providers and put a hold on the consumer-focused campaign

Program Areas:

Diabetes

State Contact Information:

NM
Judith Gabriele
New Mexico Diabetes Prevention and Control Program
(505) 476-7613
judith.gabriele@state.nm.us

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