Diabetes Awareness Month: Educate, Advocate, and Motivate

With diabetes contributing to a host of serious health complications, it's vital that Centene and its health plans develop innovative ways to educate and motivate our members. Small lifestyle changes can add up to large improvements in health outcomes, which is why November's designation as Diabetes Awareness Month is an ideal time to learn more about proper care of chronic illnesses.

Support in managing diabetes can take many forms. Trillium Community Health Plan, Centene's Oregon health plan, hosts a Diabetic Prevention Program to inform, motivate, and keep members on track with their health goals. The video below highlights how the program is improving outcomes and changing lives:

Research from the CDC has found that health coaching, a cornerstone of Trillium's program, can facilitate better individual management of diabetes. Behavioral changes are often at the core of diabetes management, an issue that researchers at the Centene Center for Health Transformation™ have been studying in earnest.

The Centene Center for Health Transformation is a community-corporate-academic healthcare partnership that advances life-centric health research to improve lives so that communities can thrive. A recent lifestyle study explores the psychology of diabetic members in order to develop innovative solutions for improvement of health outcomes. A coaching call analysis identified opportunities to improve a diabetes coaching program through the lens of behavioral economics.

It's often too easy to assume that all diabetic members have the same levels of education, physical activity, access to healthy foods, and other elements of health equity. To better remove barriers to healthcare, it's vital that we understand the challenges facing a widely diverse population. Learn more about Centene's robust efforts to address social determinants of health.