mHealth advances are enabling real-time communication between diabetics, their blood glucose meters and their caregivers. Now one company is seeking approval for a mobile clinical decision support tool that would enable doctors to instantly know how much insulin a diabetic would need.
ALR Technologies, which markets the Health-e-Connect chronic care platform, is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) approval for the Insulin Dose Adjustment Consultation (IDAC) feature. Company officials say the new tool would draw data from a diabetic's blood glucose meter, his or her height and weight and insulin dose history, feed it through an algorithm and give doctors a real-time guideline on how much insulin to prescribe at a given moment.
“The proper dosing of insulin is one of the most important challenges in the clinical practice of diabetes,” Bill Smith, president of Richmond, Va.-based ALR Technologies, said in a recent press release. “According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), insulin accounts for more than 10 percent of all drug dosing mistakes. Health-e-Connect with IDAC is an easy way for a prescribing clinician to optimize a patient’s insulin dose without an office visit while avoiding common errors.”
An incorrect dose of insulin – either too much or too little – could have disastrous consequences for a diabetic, including coma and death.
The new feature would also bolster the clinician's online toolbox for diabetes care management – which, as of the beginning of the year, now falls under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' list of reimbursable care coordination activities.
While giving clinicians instant access to data needed to make a correct decision on doses, the Health-e-Connect platform also places a premium on real-time communication between the diabetic and his/her doctor. A diabetic's blood glucose level is affected by external issues as well, including diet and exercise, all of which have to be taken into account when figuring an insulin regimen.
Through Health-e-Connect, data from a diabetic's blood glucose meter is uploaded onto a secure website, where the data is viewed by the company's diabetes care facilitators and the patient's selected caregivers. Alerts and other messages can then be sent back to the patient via secure message, text and/or e-mail, and clinicians can be alerted for an immediate intervention if needed.
“We expect the IDAC feature will encourage the widespread adoption of intensive blood glucose management,” Sidney Chan, ALRT's chief executive officer and chairman, said in the release. “Research shows that intensive management can avoid significant micro-vascular complications and comorbidities resulting from poor blood glucose control. Besides these serious health consequences for patients, the poor outcomes produced by improper insulin dosing lead to significant, unnecessary healthcare costs.”
