Atrium Health Navicent Expands Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure Disease Management Programs to Baldwin and Peach Counties
Congestive heart failure and diabetes disproportionally affect Black individuals
Congestive heart failure and diabetes are two diseases that disproportionately affect Black individuals, causing devastating health effects. In conjunction with National Minority Health Month, Atrium Health Navicent has announced an expansion of Atrium Health Navicent Healthy Communities’ Congestive Heart Failure and Diabetes Disease Management programs into Baldwin and Peach counties.
National Minority Health Month, observed each April, seeks to raise awareness about health disparities that continue to affect people from racial and ethnic minority groups and encourage action through health education, early detection and control of disease complications.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 11.3 percent of the U.S. population — or more than 37 million people — have diabetes. The CDC also reports that about 6.2 million adults in the U.S. have heart failure.
The Healthy Communities Congestive Heart Failure and Diabetes Disease Management programs were implemented in Bibb County in 2022 to help patients who were experiencing more frequent than normal hospital readmissions and emergency room visits. The patients served in these programs are considered high risk, generally have other underlying health conditions, need higher levels of care and struggle with socio-economic barriers to receiving health care, such as having low income or transportation difficulties. Atrium Health Navicent patients who are identified by providers as being at a high risk for readmission or emergency room visits are referred to the program. In the program’s first year, 640 congestive heart failure patients and 750 diabetes patients received life-changing assistance which successfully reduced the number of subsequent admissions to the hospital for these patients.
“The numbers reflect that this program works. And we know we need to reach patients in underserved and rural counties, who also may be facing health disparities and struggling with access to quality health care,” said Carol Babcock, Atrium Health Navicent assistant vice president for Healthy Communities and Virtual Health. “Our goal for the expansion into Baldwin and Peach counties is to see similar results as we work to fill gaps in care for high-risk heart failure and diabetic patients.”
Learn more about Healthy Communities at navicenthealth.org/service-center/healthy-communities or by calling 478-633- 5623.
About Atrium Health Navicent
Atrium Health Navicent is the leading provider of health care in central and south Georgia and is committed to its mission of elevating health and wellbeing through compassionate care. Atrium Health Navicent is part of Advocate Health, which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the fifth-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Navicent provides high-quality, personalized care in 53 specialties at more than 50 facilities throughout the region. As part of the largest, integrated, nonprofit health system in the Southeast, it is also able to tap into some of the nation’s leading medical experts and specialists with Atrium Health, allowing it to provide the best care close to home – including advanced innovations in virtual medicine and care. Throughout its 125-year history in the community, Atrium Health Navicent has remained dedicated to enhancing health and wellness for individuals throughout the region through nationally recognized quality care, community health initiatives and collaborative partnerships. It is also one of the leading teaching hospitals in the region, helping to ensure viability for rural health care for the next generation. For more information, please visit www.NavicentHealth.org.