How the AADE Prevention Network and DAPS Are Being Used by Educators
Apr 7, 2017, 12:41 PM
AADE recently launched the AADE Prevention Network™ to help programs implement the National DPP with quality and fidelity. Regardless of where you are in the implementation process, the AADE Prevention Network provides the tools, reach and expertise to help you build, sustain and receive reimbursement for diabetes prevention services. Read how programs are using the Data Analysis for Participants System (DAPS) tool:
Andrea S. McCarty, MS, RDN, LD, CDE
Diabetes Education Coordinator; Monongalia General Hospital; Morgantown, WV
CDC Recognition requires that participants in the National DPP reach and maintain 5% weight loss at program’s end. With the pending Medicare reimbursement, it will be crucial to monitor participant progress to ensure payment.
We recently had the opportunity to begin using AADE’s DAPS system, and it has been an incredible time-saver. It allows you to enter all the data, including documentation of physical activity minutes, sessions attended, and weight in one system. Then, just like magic, it allows real-time reports, showing where the program stands in relation to all of the CDC’s requirements.
DAPS can also transfer data into the CDC spreadsheet, including each participant's information, including how they qualified for the program. This ensures your program can meet the CDC requirements for each cohort, making sure no more than 50% qualify on risk alone. The system can generate reports for each participant, each cohort, or the program as a whole to determine how closely you meet the CDC’s criteria.
If you notice that a cohort is falling short on physical activity documentation or isn't meeting weight loss goals, you can make additions to the curriculum to address these issues for the group as a whole. This is likely to improve the program's goals and improve participant success. Knowing how each cohort is doing in real-time allows you to adjust curriculum and direction for each group so they have more success in reaching their goals to decrease their risk of diabetes.
In the past, our program created spreadsheets that only tracked weight loss for each participant. We updated this with each session, in addition to documenting it in the Electronic Medical Record, and in datasheets to submit to the CDC. We had the same documentation in three locations. This took a lot of time to enter and there was always the risk of errors.
One of the toughest challenges many National DPP programs face is time - the amount of time it takes to document, recruit, provide support to participants, teach a quality program, and retain participants. DAPS could be the solution to all of these challenges. It frees up the extra time it takes to document, it supports a program's efforts to recruit qualified participants, and it identifies weak links in each group's efforts to reach program and personal goals. Identifying these issues during the first six months of the program allows the Lifestyle Coach to adapt the program content to meet the current needs of the cohort. This will increase the likelihood participants reach their personal weight loss goals, and it could be crucial to ensuring that they continue in the program. If participants see their success in weight loss, they are more likely to continue the program and to tell others about their success. It may be hard to believe that a documentation system can contribute this much to the success of a program, but once you start using it, you will wonder how you ever succeeded without it.
Erica Moore, MHS, RD, CDE, BC-ADM; Cynthia Norris, RN, BSN, CDE; Caroline Boyd, MS, RD, CDE
Medical Group of the Carolinas; Spartanburg, SC
DAPS advances the purpose of the Diabetes Prevention Program by increasing the ability to gather, use, and report patient information. This tool tracks patient progress, measures outcomes, and more. The goal of this software is to be able to have quality data at your disposal and really enables you to understand the progress of everyone in the group. DAPS was designed to help the workflow of Lifestyle Coaches, and includes tools that make data collection required for reporting and management efficient. The software is easy to use and makes it simple to record and share data.
We like using DAPS because:
- It is very motivating and encouraging to provide participants with their total group weight loss each week.
- In the past we were not able to see all of the cohort’s data at once, but with DAPS we can see how our data as a whole is coming along in terms of meeting the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program (DPRP) standards to become CDC Recognized. This provides validation that we are on the right track, and gives us specific issues upon which to improve.
- The system is very user-friendly and makes sense of all of the data (versus all of the code we had to use in the Excel spreadsheet).
- We like the ability to track physician referrals, and we know who is promoting DPP in our area or whom we need to contact to increase referrals from specific practices.
Why others should use this tool:
- This tool saves an immense amount of time when entering data.
- DAPS reduces data entry errors because it is so much more user-friendly than our excel spreadsheets. The pop-up messages enabled to prevent data entry error are extremely helpful!
- DAPS provides data on insurance coverage for specific participants, and this will help us in the future with reimbursement.
We cannot imagine life without DAPS now…We do not want to go back! We found this tool essential as we grow our Diabetes Prevention Program.
Teresa Brown MPH, RD/LD, CDE
Diabetes and Nutrition Education Center Supervisor; Norman Regional; Norman, OK
We believe DAPS will help us gain insight on how each cohort progresses at any point during the year-long National Diabetes Prevention Program. Coaches can reiterate specific teaching points and program goals with individual participants to improve outcomes "in the moment."
Ultimately, this feature of DAPS could assist a program in maintaining CDC Recognition. The program is very user-friendly and will simplify data entry for our lifestyle coaches.