54 The Association of Patient Characteristics on Provider Referrals to a Health-system Based Diabetes Prevention Program in the Bronx, NY.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) has been shown to reduce diabetes risk by 58%. Men, particularly men of color, are underrepresented in DPP, while they experience higher diabetes-related morbidity. We examine whether race, ethnicity, and gender disparities in engagement are associated with the risk of referral to DPP in primary care METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Using electronic health record (EHR) from a large urban health system in the Bronx, NY, with an in-house DPP, we examined patient, visit, referral data for DPP-eligible, adult patients with a primary care visit between July 2015 and December 2017. Eligibility included: hemoglobin A1c between 5.7-6.4%; a body mass index (BMI)≥24 kg/m2 (≥22 if Asian); and having no prior diagnosis of diabetes. A total of 26987 patients were included in this study. We examined patient race, ethnicity, preferred language, visit and prescription history, and health payer, among other characteristics. SPSS was used for univariate and bivariate analyses to examine associations between patient characteristics and referral followed by a logistic regression to examine the multivariate association between predictors and referrals. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Of all DPP-eligible patients, 49% were Hispanic/Latino, and 39% were non-Hispanic Black. Around one-third (34%) of all eligible patients were men. Among all eligible patients in the sample, only 10% were referred to DPP. There were significant differences in the proportion of eligible patients who were referred versus those who were not referred. Women were referred at more than twice the prevalence of men (8.26% to 2.41%), with Hispanic women being referred most frequently (3.59%), and non-Hispanic white men being referred least frequently (.07%) Ethnicity, race, sex, age, number of provider visits, and number of chronic conditions all impacted healthcare provider referral rates to DPP. The health system’s unique free-of-charge DPP likely influenced the lack of significance of patient health insurance. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Given the implementation of DPP at-scale there is an urgent need to understand the patient and systems-level factors that are associated with referring individuals in the DPP. By detecting characteristics of health systems and patients that warrant special attention, we can improve equitable access to evidence-based diabetes prevention.