Scaling Personal Health Technologies to Address the Diabetes Epidemic

No one argues that new diagnoses of Type 2 Diabetes is approaching epidemic levels. According to the American Diabetes Association, 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year. With a future physician shortage looming, how can we treat this epidemic? How can personal connected health technologies enable behavior change and improve outcomes? 

 

One place to look for scaling personal connected health technologies to large populations is the U.S. Veteran’s Administration. MOVE! Coach, for instance, encourages physician activity among vets with diabetes. In this program, the use of patient-generated health data (PGHD) enables regular monitoring of the condition without frequent appointments. 

 

There are a growing number of diabetes apps that are available and even reviews of the best apps currently on the market.

Studies of hundreds of patients using apps for diabetes or pre-diabetes are underway or completed, and are showing promising results. But what about scaling this to thousands or tens of thousands of those with the condition? Do we need large scale, multi-centered studies or are there other ways to evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches? 

 

The good news is that major organizations, such as the ADA and the World Health Organization are recommending apps and devices, and supporting innovation in this space. Population health programs are one approach to scaling apps and devices on a larger scale and monitoring the results. With tens-of-thousands of people with diabetes using these apps, large impacts can be seen and adjustments can be made to treat this epidemic more effectively.