2.6.0.0 Cost-effectiveness
A cost-effectiveness model suggested that the lifestyle intervention used in the DPP was cost-effective (32,33). Actual cost data from the DPP and DPPOS confirmed this (34). Group delivery of DPP content in community or primary care settings has the potential to reduce overall program costs while still producing weight loss and diabetes risk reduction(35-37). The use of community health workers to support DPP efforts has been shown to be effective with cost savings (38) (see Section 1 “Improving Care and Promoting Health in Populations” for more information). The CDC coordinates the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP), a resource designed to bring evidence-based lifestyle change programs for preventing type 2 diabetes to communities (www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/index.htm). Early results from the CDC’s National DPP during the first 4 years of implementation are promising (39). In an effort to expand preventive services using a cost-effective model that began in April 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has expanded Medicare reimbursement coverage for the National DPP lifestyle intervention to organizations recognized by the CDC that become Medicare suppliers for this service (https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/medicare-diabetes-prevention-program/).