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Blog Kick Off!!

By Brooke Bloomfield posted 12-19-2011 11:46

  

Michigan Blog Kick Off!

     Happy Holidays Michigan diabetes educators!  I am pleased and excited to be given this opportunity to write the very first Michigan AADE Blog entry!  The purpose of our blog is to promote statewide (and even nationwide) conversation about whatever it is we feel like talking about!  That’s the great thing about blogging…there are no “rules” to follow here, other than basic netiquette and there are no geographical boundaries.  Each month you will see 1 or 2 blogs posted by the monthly writer.  Please feel free to comment, ask questions etc., as often as you like.  So, let’s get started…

     It seems every office has their “busy season”, but what about when we’re not so busy?  We all run into it….the dry spell.  Those weeks or even months, when numbers start to dwindle and we all start to get nervous.  We sit with our co-workers and brainstorm….asking ourselves: How can we get our numbers back up?  Where did everyone go?  Four weeks ago we were swamped, now the schedule is close to non-existent.  What do we do to get the referrals rolling back in?  We know our patients are out there…diabetes certainly isn’t going away….  so where are the referrals?  Are our HCPs forgetting about us?  Are patients less than excited to come in for education?  Does the average lay person even know what a diabetes education program is?

     This leads us to our question to help start our discussion…..

                What do you do to increase the number in program participants? 

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Brooke Bloomfield
12-20-2011 08:23

? About the follow ups...

Paula-How do you keep track of your follow ups?  In my office i keep a running list on an excel spreadsheet, but am curious how you do yours.  Also, do you call the patients yourselves to see if they need additional education? Or do you send a note to the doc?

Paula Ackerman
12-19-2011 16:00

Increasing participation in DSMT

In the beginning of the year, I do follow-ups on my pre-existing clients to see if they need any refreshers.  Most need that after this long holiday season. Remember, our clients have diabetes education benefits yearly, especially our Medicare clients.

Timira Perry
12-19-2011 14:34

Increase in number of program participants

At the beginning of this year, I started making personal visits to every office I receive referrals from for the diabetes education program. I always start my visit off with "it is nice to put a face with a name or a voice on the phone and to meet you in person".


I meet with the staff and review the referral form and process for referring a patient, answer questions about the program, inform them about what kind of coverage is available to attend for not only Medicare and Medicaid but also private insurers. These visits have helped to streamline the referral process and also to increase the referrals received.