AHIP Partners with CDC to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes in People with Prediabetes
For Immediate Release
October 9, 2012
Contact:
Clare Krusing
(202) 778-8494
Washington,
D.C. – America’s Health Insurance Plans
(AHIP) today announced it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to implement the National
Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) around the country. The National DPP
aims to prevent type 2 diabetes in individuals who have prediabetes, a
condition of elevated blood sugar that often leads to type 2 diabetes within a
few years.
Over
the next four years, AHIP will work with four member health plans, Aetna,
EmblemHealth, Florida Blue, and Molina Healthcare, to implement the National
DPP in Florida, New Mexico, New York, and Texas. The health plans will collect
data from the intervention sites, and AHIP will compile the data and report
outcomes to the CDC as well as promote the program to health plans and
employers. Participation may expand to additional health plans and states in
the future.
“Health
plans have a long-standing commitment to preventing type 2 diabetes and its
related risk factors through innovative and collaborative efforts with
community partners,” says Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP.
“National
DPP is an evidence-based program that reduces the likelihood of developing type
2 diabetes by nearly 60 percent. It helps participants make healthy lifestyle
changes such as choosing healthier foods and increasing physical activity, and
learning strategies for maintaining those changes. AHIP and its member health
plans are excited to work with the CDC to implement the National DPP in
communities across the country. Our shared goal is to identify successful
models for prevention and wellness across the entire health care system.”
CDC
estimates that 79 million Americans—35 percent of U.S. adults aged 20 and
older—have prediabetes. People with prediabetes have a higher risk for heart
disease and stroke. The CDC is working with community-based organizations,
insurers, employers, and health care organizations to make the National DPP
available across the country. CDC’s
role in the National Diabetes Prevention Program also includes helping ensure a
trained workforce of lifestyle coaches to lead classes effectively, as well as
setting program standards and monitoring performance to recognize successful
programs.
Classes
offered through the prevention program combine the power of group support with
evidence-based curriculum to help people with prediabetes make lasting changes
to improve and protect their health.
The
program includes lifestyle change classes led by trained coaches that meet for
16 core sessions, as participants focus on losing 5 to 7 percent of their body
weight and increasing physical activity to 150 minutes each week. After the
initial 16 sessions, classes meet monthly for six months.
For more
information about the National Diabetes Prevention Program, visit www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention.
For more
information about AHIP and its members’ efforts to promote prevention and
wellness, visit
http://www.ahip.org/Our-Value/
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