Midwest Business Group on Health Awarded Grant from National Business Coalition on Health for Diabetes Quality Program

Funding enables expansion of the Taking Control of Your Health diabetes self-management program.

Chicago (PRWEB) January 24, 2008 -- The non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) announced today that it is receiving funding through the National Business Coalition on Health's (NBCH) Diabetes Seed Grant Program to further its efforts to improve diabetes care in the Chicago area. The grant program was established to assist coalitions throughout the U.S. in implementing and evaluating models for improving diabetes care at a community-level.

"NBCH is pleased to support our member coalitions as they do the important work of convening market stakeholders around the treatment and care of employees with diabetes," said Andrew Webber, president and CEO of NBCH. "We congratulate the Midwest Business Group on Health for their efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of care for patients with diabetes."

MBGH will use the grant to expand its employer-based diabetes self-management program supported by the Institute of Medicine of Chicago and the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians. Launched in 2007, in cooperation with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation and the Illinois Pharmacists Association, the initiative is a diabetes management demonstration project that utilizes specially trained pharmacists to conduct face-to-face meetings with the employee to help educate, motivate and empower them to better manage their condition. The Chicago-area program is known as Taking Control of Your Health.

"We appreciate the support from NBCH as we work to expand our efforts to improve the health and reduce the long-term health care costs and improve productivity for employees with diabetes," said Larry Boress, president of MBGH. "Through collaboration at a community level and engaging all health care stakeholders we are working to empower patients to better self-manage their diabetes and improve their overall health."

Current employer participants in the MBGH program are the City of Naperville, Hospira, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Jones Lang LaSalle and Pactiv Corporation.

NBCH will support member coalitions with evaluation and technical assistance to measure and report the results of these programs.

About the National Business Coalition on Health
Celebrating 15 years of value based purchasing, NBCH is a national, non-profit, membership organization of nearly 60 business and health coalitions, representing over 7,000 employers and 34 million employees and their dependents across the United States. NBCH and its members are dedicated to value based purchasing of health care services through the collective action of public and private purchasers. For additional information visit: www.nbch.org.

About the Midwest Business Group on Health
Founded in 1980, the Chicago-based Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) is one of the nation's leading non-profit coalitions of private and public employers. MBGH's 85+ members provide health benefits to over 2 million covered lives, spending more than $2.3 billion on health care benefits on an annual basis. MBGH is a member of the National Business Coalition on Health. For additional information visit: www.mbgh.org.

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