Measurement Fundamentals
Why Evaluation Matters
Establishing a simple framework for monitoring your type 2 diabetes prevention program can help you make sure your program is performing as you intended. After putting in all the hard work to tailor a benefit to best reach your employees, it’s worth it to take a few extra steps to monitor how it’s working. As you know, it takes time to demonstrate changes in health outcome and a return on your investment in prevention. An evaluation plan can help you demonstrate movement toward these longer-term measures. This will allow your team to adapt strategies if needed, have informed conversations with your vendors, and communicate program success over time to leadership. Before we get started, let’s acknowledge two things:- Not all staff working to develop a new benefit program will have access to the same level of data. We recognize this fact and give you options to craft an evaluation strategy that works best for your data. We’ll also provide tips about how to increase your access to data and where to look for various metrics.
- Decisions about what you can do with the data you collect are driven by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other patient privacy rules. For the Healm platform, you will only use aggregate, de-identified data.
Core Concepts
You may already be familiar with these concepts, so we’ll keep it brief. If you’d like more detailed information about program measurement, data collection, or evaluation, be sure to visit the valuable resources on the right of this page and use the Ask My Guide button to reach out to a Healm Guide. Expand the topics below to get familiar with key areas to consider before setting up your evaluation efforts.Set realistic and measurable goals for your program to make sure you stay on track. “Measurable” means that the goal is phrased in a way that lends itself to data collection. “Realistic” means that a well-implemented intervention can be reasonably expected to meet the goal you set. Goals should include the expected duration of activities, such as “In the next year, we will achieve ___” or “By 2030, we will ____.”
In the following sections, Healm will provide you information on things to consider as you set your identification, enrollment, engagement and retention, and health improvement goals. You’ll use this information to clearly define your diabetes prevention goals later in this step.
For each goal you set, you’ll need a way to measure how you’re progressing toward meeting that goal. We’ll show you the metrics that the Healm platform can help you track. Where appropriate, we’ll share other metrics that you might find useful.
Unless otherwise noted, the metrics and data we recommend for measuring your program impact will come from the organization or third-party administrator that is delivering your National DPP lifestyle change program. If you’re offering the program within your own organization, this information will come from the staff in your organization who are managing the program.
You may find it useful to review the section of your vendor contract that addresses data and reporting to understand what information is currently available. If you’re not sure how to get the information you need, schedule a meeting with your delivery organization or third-party administrator.
Your Healm Dashboard, Metrics Page, and type 2 diabetes prevention goals will only work if you update your data regularly. You can come back as often as you’d like, but we recommend at least quarterly. You should refresh your information when you hit certain program milestones, get new data reports from vendors, or add new participant cohorts.
Consider assigning one person to be responsible for updating the Metrics Page. You can also set up calendar reminders to revisit the site at specific times throughout the year.