Diabetes has become a significant global public health issue. In China, the prevalence of diabetes has been steadily increasing, placing a substantial burden on healthcare resources. The primary healthcare system plays a crucial role in diabetes management, yet there are still deficiencies in improving the quality of diabetes management services and achieving adequate blood glucose control.

This policy brief aims to explore and analyze evidence-based quality improvement interventions for diabetes management in primary healthcare settings, providing practical recommendations for policy and practice.

During July to December 2024, a systematic search was conducted using the PubMed, Epistemonikos, and Health System Evidence databases to identify relevant systematic reviews published in the past 10 years. The focus was on quality improvement interventions for type 2 diabetes management in primary healthcare systems, with an additional analysis of their effectiveness in China.

A total of 33 international systematic reviews and 22 original studies from China were included. The interventions were categorized using the Chronic Care Model (CCM), which identifies six key strategies: (1) high-quality healthcare service organization; (2) community resource linkages; (3) self-management support; (4) delivery system design; (5) decision support; and (6) information systems. Regarding the primary health outcome—blood glucose control—two types of interventions, including high-quality integrated interventions focused on service organization optimization and self-management support, showed positive effects in all studies. The evaluation of other interventions was inconsistent or lacked sufficient evidence. Studies conducted in China validated the positive effects of four intervention strategies on blood glucose control. However, evidence for the effectiveness of "enhancing community resource linkages" and "strengthening decision support" remains insufficient in China.

This policy brief summarizes effective interventions for diabetes management in primary healthcare systems, based on the best evidence available and the results from their implementation in China. It recommends prioritizing two key strategies: fostering a culture of quality improvement across the entire system and implementing a comprehensive chronic disease management model, while in areas where a full system-wide approach cannot be implemented, prioritizing interventions that support patient or community self-management. Additionally, the brief emphasizes expanding multi-sector collaboration and exploring more practices to strengthen community resource linkages, while also providing primary healthcare personnel with more direct and actionable guidelines.