Introduction and Objective: Diabetes is a growing epidemic, affecting 38.4 million adults in the United States, with an additional 97.6 million with prediabetes. The demand for diabetes care increasingly exceeds the supply of endocrinologists. To address this gap, a comprehensive diabetes education program was developed to equip primary care providers (PCPs), physicians and advanced practice providers, with advanced, evidence-based skills in diabetes management and to enhance the capability of PCPs to deliver consistent, guideline concordant diabetes care. Methods: Twelve providers were recruited through the MercyOne Genesis Health System in Iowa. The two-year program integrated expert-led virtual didactics, multidisciplinary clinical experiences across diabetes care settings, and clinical support materials. Participants needed to provide 500 hours of direct diabetes patient care, attend 80% of live didactic sessions, and present a complex diabetes case for faculty-guided discussion. Provider-level patient panel data were collected for 12 months preceding program enrollment and monitored for up to 24 months through program completion. The primary outcome measure was average change in provider A1C 9.0% metric. Results: T-test analysis demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of 21.68% in provider panel A1C 9.0% (95% Cl, 0.93 to 6.81; p=0.0146). Secondary measures were continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) ordering rates and diabetes patient panel size. CGM ordering increased by 51% (substantial rise seen following a dedicated CGM-focused didactic session). Qualitative feedback was obtained via post-program surveys using Likert-scale responses and open-ended comments. Participants reported high value perception and consistent positive experiences. Conclusion: A two-year diabetes training program for PCPs significantly improved glycemic outcomes, increased CGM use, and was highly valued, supporting further program expansion and evaluation of scalable models to address diabetes workforce gaps. Disclosure A. Gerard: None. A.M. Gieswein: None. E.A. Christofides: Consultant; Current; Abbott. Research Support; Current; Abbott Diabetes, Amgen Inc. Speaker's Bureau; Current; Ascendis Pharma A/S, Chiesi USA, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company. Research Support; Current; Eli Lilly and Company. Advisory Panel; Current; Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Research Support; Current; Novo Nordisk A/S. Speaker's Bureau; Current; Recordati S.p.A, Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Advisory Panel; Current; Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Research Support; Current; Corcept Therapeutics. Speaker's Bureau; Current; Corcept Therapeutics. M. Arnold: None.
GERARD et al. (Fri,) studied this question.