CPF FUNDED GRANT DETAILS

The primary goal of this research is to demonstrate the impact of a pharmacist-delivered patient empowerment program for diabetics focusing on diabetes education and medication therapy management. The Asheville Project and the American Pharmacists Association have demonstrated in pilot projects that waiver of co-pays combined with an empowerment program improves patient health and economic outcomes. This project will assess the impact of pharmacist-directed empowerment program when combined with waiver of co-pays for diabetes-related utilization. Working with at least three employers in Lane County Oregon, we will randomly allocate diabetic health care beneficiaries N300 to either a control group receiving waiver of co-pays plus printed patient information sheets or an intervention group waiver of co-pays plus empowerment program developed by the researchers using resources in the public domain. We expect to demonstrate a statistically significant decrease in hemoglobin A1c, improved blood pressure control, and improved lipid profiles total, low- and high-density lipoproteins and triglycerides in the intervention group compared to the control group. Similarly, we will compare total costs of diabetes care, rates of absenteeism, adherence to medication, and costs for diabetes medications and for diabetes-related hospitalization between the two study groups. We also hypothesize that the empowerment arm will have better diabetes knowledge, better diabetes empowerment, and greater satisfaction with diabetes care.