Learning Collaborative: ECHO Diabetes
Diabetes-Endo ECHO Learning Collaborative: EDAN manages a network of 37 ECHO hubs with interest in implementing diabetes-related ECHO programming. The collaborative meets monthly with guest speakers and community best practice sharing, including an online repository of resources.
Diabetes-Endo ECHO Learning Collaborative
2nd Tuesday of the Month:
3-4 pm ET
2-3 pm CT | 1-2 pm MT | 2-1 pm PT | 11am-12pm AK | 9-10 am HI
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Why We Need More Diabetes-related ECHOs
The Project ECHO Model® is a proven tele-mentoring model that is designed to explicitly target PCPs, address health disparities, and improve patient outcomes. The model is also replacing traditional forms of continuing medical education and revolutionizing the approach to addressing diabetes disparities in the primary care setting.
Over 500 peer-reviewed articles validating the model with data demonstrate that patients who received care from clinicians mentored using the ECHO methodology had outcomes as good or better than those treated at specialized referral hospitals, which has largely been credited to leveraging the patient‐centered medical home model.
The ECHO Model is especially pertinent to addressing diabetes disparities, as the Model was initially established to address: (1) the lack of access to specialists, (2) poor patient level outcomes, (3) increased disparities in care amongst minority populations and publicly insured patients with hepatitis C, and (4) at the core of the Model is the lack of confidence of PCPs managing complex medical conditions.
ECHO is a form of telehealth, but has more of an amplification effect compared to traditional telemedicine. During a session, participants present real anonymized cases to the specialists and each other for discussion and recommendations with a focus on local issues. This continuous learning loop, mentoring and peer support makes ECHO unique, with an impact far beyond that of a webinar or e-learning course.
The ECHO Model is scaling in the US and globally, but implementation for diabetes is lagging. There is an urgent need to expand diabetes-related ECHOs for PCPs across the country with a strategic focus on addressing diabetes disparities.
Since its inception in 2003, the ECHO model has grown to involve more than 70 specialty conditions hosted by over 1,100 hubs across the globe that have drawn over 5 million ECHO session attendees. The most common applications of the ECHO model are HCV, Opioid Addiction, and COVID-19 Nursing Home.
While attendance in diabetes-related ECHO programming was less than 1% of total programming in 2022, diabetes-related programming is increasing and the ECHO Institute recognized diabetes-related programming as 1 of 4 top priorities in 2022 and is collaborating with EDAN to increase implementation and replication.