Clinical Outcomes of Rural Patients with Diabetes Treated by ECHO-Trained Providers Versus an Academic Medical Center.

Background: Despite clinical practice guidelines prioritizing cardiorenal risk reduction, national trends in diabetes outcomes, particularly in rural communities, do not mirror the benefits seen in clinical trials with emerging therapeutics and technologies.

Objective: Project ECHO supports implementation of guidelines in under-resourced areas through virtual communities of practice, sharing of best practices, and case-based learning. We hypothesized that diabetes outcomes of patients treated by ECHO-trained primary care providers (PCPs) would be similar to those of patients treated by specialists at an academic medical center.

Design: Specialists from the University of New Mexico (UNM) launched a weekly diabetes ECHO program to mentor dyads consisting of a PCP and community health worker at ten rural clinics.

Participants: We compared cardiorenal risk factor changes in patients with diabetes treated by ECHO-trained dyads to patients treated by specialists at the UNM Diabetes Comprehensive Care Center (DCCC). Eligible participants included adults with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes on insulin, or diabetes of either type with A1c > 9%.

Main Measures: The primary outcome was change from baseline in A1c in the ECHO and DCCC cohorts. Secondary outcomes included changes in body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol, and urine albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR).

Key Results: Compared to the DCCC cohort (n = 151), patients in the ECHO cohort (n = 856) experienced greater A1c reduction (-1.2% vs -0.6%; p = 0.02 for difference in difference). BMI decreased in the Endo ECHO cohort and increased in the DCCC cohort (-0.2 vs. +1.3 kg/m; p = 0.003 for difference in difference). Diastolic blood pressure declined in the Endo ECHO cohort only. Improvements of similar magnitude were observed in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in both groups. UACR remained stable in both groups.

Conclusions: ECHO may be a suitable intervention for improving diabetes outcomes in rural, under-resourced communities with limited access to a specialist.