Addressing Basic Needs to Improve Diabetes Outcomes in Medicaid Beneficiaries

April 29, 2026 updated by: Washington University School of Medicine
This pragmatic randomized trial will test the effectiveness of a basic needs navigation intervention compared to usual care among 500 adults (ages 18-75) with Medicaid, type 2 diabetes, and 1 or more unmet basic needs. Basic needs includes having such things as adequate food, housing, personal safety, and money for necessities. The primary study hypothesis is that participants who receive navigation to address unmet basic needs will have a greater reduction (M=0.5%) in HbA1c pre-post compared with participants receiving usual care. Consistent with the study's conceptual model, the effects of unmet basic needs on barriers to self-care (e.g., attention, stress, sleep), health behaviors (e.g., glucose monitoring, diet, clinical screenings) and health outcomes (e.g., emergency department utilization, hospitalization, quality of life) will be examined.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Type 2 diabetes affects over 29 million US adults, with a disproportionate burden of disease borne by low-income populations. Effective self-management requires attention, planning, follow-through and consistent performance of multiple health behaviors to prevent negative health outcomes. For low-income individuals, though, health improvement is often superseded by the drive to fulfill basic needs such as food, housing, personal safety, and money for necessities. Having unmet basic needs can overwhelm a person's ability to maintain health behaviors. Prior research has demonstrated that with more unmet basic needs, low-income individuals are less likely to even remember or act on a referral for needed health services. However, when unmet needs are resolved and/or people have a personal navigator to help, the likelihood of acting on a health referral significantly increases. Traditionally, patient navigators help coordinate care, manage disease or promote screening and preventive behaviors. This study will expand the role of navigators to include identifying and resolving unmet basic needs, which is expected to facilitate behavior change and improve health outcomes. This approach will be tested in a pragmatic randomized trial conducted in partnership with Louisiana Healthcare Connections, the largest Medicaid managed care plan in Louisiana. This study will test the effectiveness of a basic needs navigation intervention compared to usual care among 500 adults (ages 18-75) with Medicaid, type 2 diabetes, and 1 or more unmet basic needs. The primary hypothesis is that intervention participants will have a greater reduction (M=0.5%) in HbA1c pre-post compared with usual care participants. Consistent with the study's conceptual model, the effects of unmet basic needs on barriers to self-care (e.g., attention, stress, sleep), health behaviors (e.g., glucose monitoring, diet, clinical screenings) and health outcomes (e.g., emergency department utilization, hospitalization, quality of life) will be examined. Louisiana Healthcare Connections will identify eligible members for study recruitment and provide basic needs navigation for 6 months. The research team will recruit, enroll, randomize, and survey study participants by phone at baseline and 3-, 6- and 12-month follow up. HbA1c data will be obtained from electronic medical records to assess change.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
473

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Missouri
      • St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63130
        • Washington University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Medicaid beneficiary
  • Member of Louisiana Healthcare Connections
  • Age 18-75 years old
  • Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes
  • Had a HbA1c test in the 3-4 months prior to baseline assessment

Exclusion Criteria:

  • HbA1c <7.0 in the 3-4 months prior to baseline assessment
  • Enrolled in case management at Louisiana Healthcare Connections in the 3 months prior to baseline assessment
  • Are currently pregnant or have only been diagnosed with gestational diabetes at baseline
  • Have cognitive or hearing impairments that significantly impede participation in telephone-based survey and intervention protocols.
  • Individuals not living independently (e.g., nursing homes, rehab or correctional facilities)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
No Intervention: Usual care
Medicaid beneficiaries in this arm will have all the usual resources available to them through their health plan including access to a physician network, case management resources, and other educational and health-focused resources and activities.
Experimental: Basic needs navigation
Medicaid beneficiaries in this arm will have all the usual resources available to them through their health plan (usual care) as well as a navigator for 6 months to address any unmet basic needs, provide instrumental and emotional social support, and improve self-management capabilities.
Behavioral: Basic needs navigation
Navigators will help participants address unmet basic needs for 6 months by telephone. Either party can initiate a call. On every call, navigators will: (1) review unmet needs previously reported (baseline survey for first call) and ask participants to report new needs; (2) jointly prioritize among multiple needs based on severity and resource availability; (3) identify community resources that could help solve the problem; (4) evaluate eligibility for those resources; and (5) prepare participants to interact with service agencies and/or act as an advocate on their behalf. On each subsequent call, navigators will review progress toward resolving those needs, assess emergent needs, and adapt priorities accordingly. Navigators will provide instrumental and emotional social support through regular friendly contact, and will attempt to reduce barriers to needs resolution to improve stability and security for participants longer-term.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
HbA1c
Time Frame: 6-12 months
Glycated haemoglobin (A1c) values will be abstracted from participants' medical record lab reports
6-12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health-related Quality of Life
Time Frame: 12 months
Physical and mental health aggregate scores from the Short Form-12 item (SF-12) self-report survey instrument were created following standard scoring guides. Standardized scores are reported with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10. Higher scores indicate better health status and better health-related quality of life (e.g., Physical health aggregate (1-100; higher=better health) and Mental health aggregate (1-100; higher=better health).
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Washington University School of Medicine

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Louisiana Healthcare Connections

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
November 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
July 30, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
June 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 1, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 3, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 7, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 4, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 29, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • HRPO201811020
  • 1R01DK115916-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Investigators may contact study Principal Investigators and complete a data sharing agreement.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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