By Karl Ronn, First Mile Care CEO and Founder

We’re honored to share that First Mile Care has been awarded “Full Plus Recognition” from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for our National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle change program. This designation is reserved for programs that meet CDC standards for delivering a quality, evidence-based program that achieves retention thresholds.

As a critical member of the national effort to prevent diabetes, First Mile Care already achieved “Full Recognition” status in 2021. The new “Full Plus” status means that the sustained success of our lifestyle change program has earned us five years of CDC recognition moving forward.

“It is programs like First Mile Care that are turning the tide in the fight against the epidemic of type 2 diabetes,” wrote Miriam T. Bell, team lead of the National Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program at the CDC, in a letter announcing the designation. “It is immensely gratifying to see the science of diabetes prevention being implemented to improve the public’s health. Thank you for your commitment to reducing the preventable burden of diabetes in the U.S.”

An important benefit of Full Recognition status is eligibility for enrollment in Medicare as a Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) supplier. As a CDC-recognized in-person organization that has already achieved Full Recognition status, First Mile Care is able to bill Medicare for in-person DPP services provided to eligible beneficiaries.

To achieve this CDC distinction, the First Mile Care team had to meet stringent requirements in a number of categories:

  • Lifestyle curriculum content
  • Staffing and training
  • Intervention duration and intensity (frequency of sessions over one year)
  • Minimum percentages for session attendance over the year
  • Documentation of body weight 
  • Documentation of physical activity minutes
  • Average weight loss of a minimum of 5% of starting body weight across all participants in the year-long cohort

First Mile Care already teams with health care providers in the greater metropolitan areas of Houston, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Syracuse, and San Francisco. We’re also expanding into Chicago and Central California. More than 600 people enrolled in the First Mile Care DPP in 2022, and our goal for 2023 is at least 1,000 participants. (See testimonials on our website from a few of our successful graduates.)

Health systems and community-based physician practices interested in offering First Mile Care DPP to their patients should contact us for more information.

 

To learn more about how you can benefit from the First Mile Care Diabetes Prevention Program, take the prediabetes risk test and get started today!