# THRIVE-DM: Improving Diabetes Care with Strategies for Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Community Partnerships

> **NIH NIH R01** · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $549,429

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
We propose to implement and assess THRIVE-DM, an expansion of our existing THRIVE health-related social
needs (HRSN) screening and referral program, with the aim of maximizing the proportion of T2DM patients
with HRSN who connect to social services and use these services to address HRSN and improve their T2DM
outcomes. This will be achieved through developing, implementing, and evaluating the THRIVE-DM
intervention, which enhances THRIVE in 3 key ways: 1) a community health worker-led referral support
protocol; 2) a community-engaged and patient-centered case management working group; and 3) a data-
driven triage tool to identify patients who are well-suited for a low versus high support strategy to connect with
social services. Together these innovations aim to increase patients’ ability to receive services that mitigate or
even resolve their HRSN, while also ensuring high acceptability among both patients and social service
providers. We will conduct a hybrid type 3 implementation-effectiveness trial to assess the feasibility and
preliminary effectiveness of the THRIVE-DM intervention. The rationale underlying this proposal encompasses
two key foundations. First, it recognizes that HRSN screening and referral initiatives, while valuable, tend to
favor individuals with a stronger locus of control, greater socioeconomic resources, superior health status, and
enhanced social capital, facilitating their successful navigation of referrals and participation in subsequent
programs. Whereas, individuals who lack these advantages achieve lower levels of success. Second, it
acknowledges the challenge of effectively allocating health system-based resources to effectively implement
closed-loop HRSN service referral linkages based on individual patient characteristics. Consequently, patients
with T2DM exhibiting greater or more severe HRSN may encounter barriers to accessing social services due to
these very same social needs. Moreover, these patients may also experience difficulties in managing their
T2DM, partly as a result of these unaddressed social needs. Thus, enhanced HRSN screening and referral
protocols, complemented by community-engaged case management based on the complexity of HRSN, build
upon our existing program to facilitate more successful connections between patients and social services.
Successfully alleviating HRSN that directly affect patients' ability to manage T2DM is a mechanism by which,
at scale, we can reduce inequities in T2DM management. However, community-level interventions addressing
the root causes of HRSN must occur simultaneously to eliminate these inequities. The proposed work will pilot
the implementation of enhanced, tiered, case management HRSN screening and referral protocols for patients
with uncontrolled T2DM. We will assess the feasibility of data collection on key person-centered clinical
outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of this enhanced protocol in mitigating self-identified ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10972880
- **Project number:** 1R01DK140570-01
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** PABLO BUITRON DE LA VEGA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $549,429
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-12 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10972880

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10972880, THRIVE-DM: Improving Diabetes Care with Strategies for Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Community Partnerships (1R01DK140570-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10972880. Licensed CC0.

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