A primary care practice serves as a medical home for patients with diabetes. It must provide opportunities for comprehensive care and ensure patients have access to the care that they need and deserve.

This need will be discussed during ADA Primary Care Council—What Does a Person with Diabetes Need from Their Primary Care Team? The symposium is designed to help practitioners evaluate their practice and identify ways they can deliver more consistent, high-quality care in order to improve outcomes, reduce complications, decrease hospitalizations, and help more patients enjoy better quality of living. It will take place on Saturday, June 22, from 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET in Room W320, the Chapin Theater, of the Orange County Convention Center. It also will be livestreamed on the virtual meeting platform for registered meeting participants and will be available on-demand following the 84^th Scientific Sessions.

“What we’re trying to do is bring it all together in one place and tell people, if you’re in a primary care practice and you’re working with patients with diabetes, these are the things we want you to be thinking about that your practice should be delivering,” said Pamela Stamm, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP, CDCES, FASHP, FCCP, Associate Professor at the Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University. “And these are the processes to put in place to provide that comprehensive, quality care for your patient with diabetes.

If primary care physicians deliver this quality of care to patients with diabetes, Dr. Stamm said, “we’ll help them achieve their personal treatment goals more effectively, quicker, more efficiently, and help them maintain those goals throughout their lifespan. That will prevent those diabetes complications.”

Additionally, the panelists aim to provide clarity for patients with diabetes.

“We’re trying to set the stage and decrease the confusion around what their primary care provider can do for them,” said Cara Orr, MS, MMS, PA-C, Associate Professor and Director of Didactic Education, Physician Assistant Program, Salus University.

The panel will also address some of the challenges primary care practices face, such as a shortage of practitioners, which is expected to worsen over time.

Another significant barrier to quality care is the way teams work together. To overcome this, every team needs to find the most appropriate and effective role for each individual based on their current skill set and ability to grow professionally in order to find the best way to work together, Dr. Stamm noted.

“The main thing that I would encourage people to come and hear about is the idea of the services that primary care provides, and that’s really what defines us,” Orr said. “Through a primary care relationship, patients can expect comprehensive care that is provided in an ongoing and continuous manner, and that offers a proactive approach that allows for coordination of all of their care.”

Additional panelists include Kevin A. Peterson, MD, MPH, ADA; Benjamin Blumi, RPh, American Pharmacists Association Foundation; Sarah Candler, MD, MPH, FACP, Independent Consultant; Andrea Haynes, MD, PCC Austin Family Health Center; Kimberly D. Boughton-Miller, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, ENP-C, FAANP, American Association of Nurse Practitioners; and Greg Cohen, DO, FACOFP, American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.