Evaluation of an Ongoing Diabetes Group Medical Visit in a Family Medicine Practice.

PURPOSE: Group medical visits (GMVs), which combine 1-on-1 clinical consultations and group self-management education, have emerged as a promising vehicle for supporting type 2 diabetes management in primary care. However, few evaluations exist of ongoing diabetes GMVs embedded in medical practices.
METHODS: This study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate diabetes GMV at a large family medicine practice. We examined program attendance and attrition, used propensity score matching to create a matched comparison group, and compared participants and the matched group on clinical, process of care, and utilization outcomes.
RESULTS: GMV participants (n = 230) attended an average of 1 session. Participants did not differ significantly from the matched comparison group (n = 230) on clinical, process of care or utilization outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: The diabetes GMV was not associated with improvements in outcomes. Further studies should examine diabetes GMV implementation challenges to enhance their effectiveness in everyday practice. © Copyright 2018 by the American Board of Family Medicine.