Why Refer to a Lifestyle Change Program?
Your patients listen to you
Research shows that patients are more likely to engage in preventive health behaviors when their health care professional recommends them.
The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is widely available and may be a covered benefit for your patients
The Y offers this program in many health care clinics, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, worksites, and other locations throughout the community. Patients have the flexibility to choose which site will work best for them.
Many employers and insurers offer the program as a covered benefit. Patients should check with their insurer or employer to see if the program is covered.
WATCH:
A Doctor’s Solution
Joan’s Journey
Who is eligible for the program?
Determining whether a person is at high risk for developing diabetes can be accomplished in three ways:
- Doctor diagnosis of prediabetes
- Blood test with one of the following results:
- Fasting plasma glucose between 100 and 125 mg/dL
- Oral Glucose Tolerance Test between 140 and 199 mg/dL
- HbA1c between 5.7 and 6.4 percent
- Random/casual blood glucose between 140 and 199 mg/dL
- A combination of risk factors such as family history, level of physical activity, gestational diabetes, etc.
To qualify for the Diabetes Prevention Program, participants must be 18 or older, overweight/obese (having Body Mass Index greater than 25) and at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, or have been diagnosed with prediabetes. The program is open to all individuals through the Y regardless of their insurance status. YMCA membership not required.
Provider Referral Form
Benefits for Your Patients
When you refer your patients to this program, you’re connecting them with a program proven to impact peoples lives and provide them with the tools necessary to make a lifestyle change.
Evidence-Based Program
The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is part of the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program. Based on years of research this program showed that a year-long, structured lifestyle change program reduced the onset of diabetes by 58% among adults and by 71% among those aged 60 years or older.
This program helps those who have been diagnosed with prediabetes, or believe they may be at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles by eating healthier, increasing physical activity and losing a modest amount of weight in order to reduce their chances of developing the disease.
Realistic Goals and Support
Part of the success of this program is that we ask participants to strive for a weight loss goal of 5% to 7% of their body weight and increase their physical activity by 150 minutes per week.
Participants should stay in the program for the full year to ensure they learn and maintain healthy habits. The group support and trained lifestyle coach encourage continued participation.
In the News
- Feds mull Medicare changes after big success in YMCA’s diabetes program
- Medicare Proposal Takes Aim at Diabetes
- Translating the Diabetes Prevention Program into the Community
Do you have an EMR? Call us about ways to directly link/refer patients to the Y.
LISA PEACOCK
Chronic Disease Prevention Coordinator
prevention@firstcoastymca.org
904.265.1810
