The Medicare Diabetes Screening Project (MDSP) conducted a pilot project in 2007-2008 in the state of New Hampshire.  The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), one of the three national co-chairs of the MDSP, led this project on behalf of the MDSP.

The MDSP used a grassroots organizing approach, engaging with more than 15 state-based organizations such as the New Hampshire Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services; the New Hampshire Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP) – Service Link Resource Center, which has 13 offices around the state; and the state office of AARP.  These organizations, which are important outlets of information to older adults, distributed MDSP information through their extensive statewide networks.

Additionally, in cooperation with Service Link and the New Hampshire Medicare Benefits Coalition, the MDSP organized and conducted more than 25 Benefits Check-Up events to reach older adults and health care providers with information about Medicare’s benefits for diabetes screening.  For the 2008 November elections, the MDSP provided briefing material to the presidential campaigns and Congressional offices about the prevalence of diabetes among older adults and the need for increased usage of Medicare’s screening benefit.

MDSP staff members also used outreach to the media as a key strategy to delivering MDSP information.  They were successful in obtaining news coverage via articles in newspapers across the state, including the Portsmouth Herald and the Fosters Daily Democrat.  And on July 26, 2007, New Hampshire Public Radio personality Laura Knoy hosted an hour-long discussion about diabetes and older adults with Dr. Charlotte Yeh, CMS Regional Administrator (Region 1 – Boston, MA); Dr. Rick Pollack, a family physician with Concord, NH Family Medicine; and Tom Maher, MDSP Director in New Hampshire.

Mr. Maher also visited and spoke about the diabetes screening benefit in Medicare at events all over the state, including 10 senior centers and at a Dover Democratic Party meeting.

At the conclusion of the MDSP pilot intervention in New Hampshire, Mr. Maher created an organizing manual that might help you in your own efforts to support MDSP and its messages.  This template is available under the “materials for use in your community outreach” section below.