Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) Diabetes Program

The Project ECHO model is currently used in 180 countries to address chronic disease care through a provider empowerment, tele-education approach using a "hub" and "spoke" learning model. Few studies have rigorously evaluated the impact of the program on patient outcomes using randomized designs. This study evaluated implementation of an ECHO Diabetes program on patient-level, provider-level, and center-level outcomes in underserved populations receiving diabetes care from primary care providers. Participants: Twenty Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and FQHC "look alikes" across CA and FL were recruited to participate as spokes in the ECHO Diabetes trial. A stepped-wedge trial design was used with randomized, phased-in intervention entry for participating health centers (or "spokes"). Interventions: Spokes were provided access to 6-months of tele-education sessions with continuing medical education credits, access to real-time support for complex medical decision making with hub subspecialty teams, and access to a diabetes support coach. Main outcomes and Measures: Participating FQHCs ("spokes") provided aggregate data including Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) reporting on the % of patients with HbA1c \>9%.