NEWS & RESOURCES 
| May 2010 Keeping In Touch |
| Written by Administrator |
|
I hope this note finds you well and enjoying the warmer weather. DPS Health continues our good fortune with the Los Angeles sunshine and the opportunity to help our clients help their patients help themselves. I'm encouraged that a main focus of the recently passed federal healthcare reform includes an increased focus on health promotion and disease prevention. This emphasis on lifestyle support and behavior change will make it easier for healthcare providers to support the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Today, most clinical interventions for weight management, diabetes and more, are based on face-to-face patient-clinician interaction. Yet, to reach the tens of millions of individuals that need -- and are eligible for -- this type of support, we must extend the reach of clinicians beyond the office visit. The solution is web-based and cell phone applications that provide vital patient engagement, education and support. Technology enabled interventions, while still relatively new, can be based on strong theory and have developed an evidence base of their own. One such example is DPS Health's Virtual Lifestyle Management (VLM) service, which is the online version of the NIH's in-person Diabetes Prevention Program (www.dpshealth.com/vlm). If you want to learn more about our innovative programs or how we partner with clients to build technology-enabled self-management support interventions, I would love to hear from you. In good health, Neal P.s. Further evidence of this new direction going mainstream came in an announcement late last month from Minnesota-based health plan, UnitedHealth Group. UnitedHealth will now reimburse the YMCA when they provide the Diabetes Prevention Program to their members. This is a first for any U.S. health plan and we hope to see more in the future. |
