Have you been ignoring the elephant in the room . . . or maybe the 500 pound gorilla was a bit intimidating. Bottom line: there’s something that needs to be discussed. We all know it needs to be discussed. We all just keep ignoring it — like the elephant and the gorilla.
Here’s the big question:
How does a DSME site compete with FREE pharmaceutical diabetes educators?
It’s hard to beat Santa Claus but here’s a few things you may not have known:
ALL pharmaceutical educators work as agents of the pharmaceutical company — they may actually work for that pharmaceutical company or they work for a company that is contracted to work for that pharmaceutical company. These pharmaceutical educators are trained to educate on their company’s drug(s). Note: keep that in mind when that pharmaceutical educator states they have an “unbranded” program.
FREE education is good business for a pharmaceutical company — it’s like service after the sale. The healthcare provider puts the patient on a drug and then that drug’s appropriate educator comes in and gives the patient detailed information about that product and a few general tips to nudge the patient toward successful diabetes management for FREE. Note: pharmaceutical educators do not provide the comprehensive self-management education that a DSME site does.
Pharmaceutical educators work hard. These educators often travel significant distances to do their job. You would think offering something for nothing would be easy — it’s not. They’d like to work with DSME sites rather than be perceived as being the competition. Many of these educators push patients toward DSME sites for the comprehensive diabetes self-management education those sites offer. For patients who cannot afford the DSME site, the pharmaceutical educators are a resource. Note: pharmaceutical educators can actually be a benefit to you, any hospital your site may be associated with and your DSME site.
Pharmaceutical educators provide services in remote areas that will NEVER have a DSME site or a credentialed diabetes educator and depending on where you live, may be bilingual. Note: pharmaceutical educators can actually be a benefit to those communities in medically underserved areas.
Another cliche: If you can’t beat ‘em, join them. What?!? I’m not talking about quitting your job, I’m talking about working with the pharmaceutical educator. Here’s some ideas:
Each pharmaceutical educator is encouraged to work with patients on that company’s product. Suggestion: Find regular scheduled times that an educator can come in and meet with your patients and see patients on their products. What that means is there’s a regular day that Novo Nordisk with be in your DSME center so any patient on a Novo Nordisk product is scheduled for that time. Any patient on Lantus is scheduled for the sanofi educator. Any patient on Bydureon is scheduled for the Bydureon educator.
What’s your DSME site’s favorite patient type? A revenue generating patient (don’t be afraid to admit you need revenue — its what keeps the lights on). What do you do with non-revenue generating patients (remember, you want to keep these guys out of your ER)? If patients are non-revenue generating, have limited funds or just need additional DSME support (and they’ve already used up their 10 DSME hours), find their drug and then find their educator. For example, if the patient’s on Lantus, send them to the Lantus educator; Bydureon goes to the Bydureon educator; and Levemir to the Novo educator. Although these educators don’t provide comprehensive DSME, they do provide some DSME beyond product education — additionally, the pharmaceutical educators can see a patient multiple times and it’s ALWAYS FREE.
Okay, so what about the educators associated with a DME company? You know this: They want that patient’s glucose monitoring supply business. Is this such a bad thing?!?
NEWS FLASH!
One of two new groups available on MY AADE NETWORK include:
(1) Diabetes Prevention COI (a future blog) and a (2) Diabetes Educators in Industry Practice Area Discussion Group provides a place for networking and information sharing in order to bridge the gap in the perceptions and realities of the role of diabetes educators in industry positions. Additionally, this group finds ways for all diabetes educators to work together in ethical, collaborative, and professional relationships that enhance diabetes education and improve the lives of people living with diabetes.
In big cities there are many clinics and many industry educators (pharmacy, DME and pump trainers). Many of those clinics have standing appointments for those industry educators. Life is good. Providers are happy. Educators are happy. Patients are happy.
Hey . . . did I mention there’s an estimated 350,000 persons with diabetes and another 150,000 at risk? Don’t be afraid to share.