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Program Overview

The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), based in Chicago, offers participation in the Diabetes Ten City Challenge to its 90+ member companies, which have a combined 2 million covered lives, as part of its "Taking Control of Your Health" campaign, a multi-year effort to address diabetes and other conditions that represent a significant health issue across the diverse populations, neighborhoods and communities in the seven-county Chicago metropolitan area and beyond.

Program Facts

1. Over 200 program participants in Illinois and North Carolina
2. The City of Naperville, Hospira, Inc., Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and Pactiv Corporation were the first MBGH member employers that elected to participate and began enrolling patients in the summer of 2007
3. MBGH has created common promotional materials for the program and assists member employers with program orientation, enrollment, implementation and ongoing support

1. The Illinois Pharmacists Association serves as pharmacy network coordinator and has established the local pharmacy network of over 200 pharmacists
2. Pharmacists have been trained by college of pharmacy faculty from the University of Illinois (at Chicago) , Midwestern University (Downers Grove, Ill.), and Southern Illinois University (at Edwardsville)
3. Pharmacists are certified in diabetes care using the American Pharmacists Association Diabetes Certification Program

1. In 2002, MBGH sponsored the “Chicago Diabetes Collaborative,” bringing together 25 medical groups to improve diabetes chronic disease management
2. MBGH also released a landmark study in 2002 with the Juran Institute, “Reducing the Cost of Poor Quality Health Care and The Need for Responsible Purchasing,” documenting that 30 percent of health benefit dollars are wasted due to overuse, under use, misuse and inefficiency in the health system
3. In 2004, MBGH published “Disease Management Vendor and Health Plan Assessment”; and also produced a study funded by the Commonwealth Fund, “How to Improve Online Physician Directories,” identifying the types of information and problems consumers have in selecting doctors
4. Since 2005, MBGH has collaborated with Dr. Ron Kessler of Harvard Medical School to look at how health impacts productivity

Initial Clinical Results for IL & NC

Relevant Statistics

Population of Illinois: 9.5 million
Population of Chicago: 2.1 million  

According to Illinois Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey and U.S. Centers for Disease Control:

1. 10.8 percent of the Chicago population have been diagnosed with diabetes
2. 8.8 percent of Illinois adults have been diagnosed with diabetes (2007), compared to 8 percent in the U.S. population
3. 840,577 Illinois adults have been diagnosed with diabetes (2007) compared to 625,000 in 2002
4. Each year, 200,000 people die of complications from diabetes, and an additional 100,000 are affected by blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and problems of the lower extremities, including amputations

According to the American Diabetes Association and the National Institutes of Health:

• 23.6 million people – 7.8 percent of the U.S. population – have diabetes.
• 17.9 million people have been diagnosed and 5.7 million have not.
• 1.6 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older in 2007.
• Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates in 2006.

About the Midwest Business Group on Health (www.mbhg.org)

The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) was founded in 1980 by a small group of large Midwest employers to help all types of purchasers -- employers and their employees -- obtain more value from their health care benefit dollars and improve the health status of their constituents.  Today, MBGH is one of the nation's leading coalitions of private and public employers, providing health benefits for more than 2 million people and spending greater than $2.3 billion on health care.  MBGH, a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation, offers employers a variety of health benefit educational seminars, networking opportunities, quality and community initiatives, demonstration projects and group purchasing programs.

Quotable Quote

Larry S. Boress, President and CEO, Midwest Business Group on Health:
“The Chicago DTCC program is going well and we are working to grow the number of participating employers. We are also expanding the Chicago program beyond diabetes to include cardiovascular care and continue efforts to help our employer members reduce costs and keep their employees productive and healthy.”

National Media Contacts:

Caren Kagan Evans
President and CEO
301-309-8487
caren@ecicommunications.com

Local Media Contact:

Cary Conway
Conway Communication
972-731-9242
cary@conwaycommunication.com