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For Immediate Release Date: February 27, 2006 Contact: Delegate David D. Rudolph Phone: (410) 658-2808 Innovative "P3" Diabetes Management Project Unveiled  Delegate David Rudolph (D-Cecil) was host to a coalition of pharmacists, employers, patients, educators, and state officials in Annapolis to unveil an innovative diabetes management project that will begin in Allegany County and is intended to be implemented statewide.
[  watch video]
Rudolph unveiled the P3 partnership to a crowded audience in Annapolis on Feb. 16 at a press conference joined by Michael Busch, speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, and Anthony McCann, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, among others. The partnership brings together patients, pharmacists, physicians, employers, and the Maryland Medical Assistance Program in an innovative diabetes management program called the Maryland P3 (Patients, Pharmacists, Partnerships) Project. Rudolph, who chairs the Pharmaceuticals Subcommittee of the Maryland House of Delegates, added, "This is a win-win-win relationship. I am thrilled to be a part of this exciting collaboration, which will change the way we approach diabetes care in Maryland. By insuring systematic meetings between pharmacists and patients, P3 will result in better health for patients with diabetes and better productivity for employers." P3 is voluntary and offers a health benefit for workers and their families. It provides employee incentives aimed at helping people manage diabetes with support from pharmacists, physicians, and diabetes educators. A distinctive part of the program is that the Maryland Medical Assistance Program will also provide the benefit for patients with diabetes in Allegany County. The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy will contribute to the program by providing supplemental training to participating pharmacists. Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner, PharmD, associate dean for academic affairs in the School, has been doing similar counseling for patients with diabetes in the Baltimore area for several years. "We know that pharmacist counseling and patient adherence to medication therapy work," says Rodriguez de Bittner. "This allows patients to take control of their illness and not let it run their lives." The cost of diabetes in Maryland is staggering. In 2001, 264,320 adults in Maryland, or 6.7 percent of the state's population, had diagnosed diabetes. There were nearly 400 new cases of blindness, 1,390 lower extremity amputations, and 812 new cases of end-stage renal disease-all of them diabetes-related complications-in 2000. And in 2001, the cost of diabetes in Maryland totaled around $2.9 billion, including direct medical care cost and indirect costs attributed to lost productivity and premature mortality. P3 is modeled after the highly successful Asheville Project in North Carolina. Now in its ninth year, the Asheville Project has grown from 47 participants at two employers to more than 1,000 participants at five organizations. The program creators hope that P3, which is premiering in Allegany County, will be replicated throughout Maryland and also be adapted for patients with other diseases. back to press releases |