Telehealth vs In-Person Shared Medical Appointments for an Intensive Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Program for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes

In response to Covid-19, the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at Midland Health elected to utilize telehealth to engage remotely with patients to deliver a 12-week intensive therapeutic lifestyle change (ITLC) program for patients with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. This program utilized a shared medical appointment (SMA) group visit model. Beginning in May/2020, the program was offered again in-person; however, the telehealth option remained. This study is a retrospective chart review, aimed at comparing pre- and post-program changes in body weight, HbA1c, fasting lipid profile, systolic pressure, and diastolic blood pressure between in-person vs telehealth SMA formats. This study found no statistical difference in ITLC program health outcomes between telehealth vs in-person shared medical groups. At the end of ITLC Programs between both groups, an average weight loss of 9.66 pounds and 1% reduction was noted in ptHbA1C. Total cholesterol reduced by 7.1 mg/dL, and LDL by 15.19 mg/dL. The blood pressure readings showed a reduction in systolic blood pressure of 13.4 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 4.14 mmHg. Our results indicated that this novel telehealth delivery model could be equally successful in delivering an intensive therapeutic lifestyle program (ITLC) using an SMA approach to prevent, treat and often put chronic diseases in remission.