Comments on: Remote Control Diabetes? Not

By: JIM MAIRS

JIM MAIRS — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:47:57 +0000

I am a type I who has been unable to get Lifescans OneTouch software v2.3 to communicate with its own data base initially or its Customerservice to communicate with me even after being switched to level 2 service and assigned a manager (Sabrina) to”personally oversee” my problem. I believe such rude treatment given under the name of customer service needs to be exposed. How does one best go about this?

By: Kevin McMahon

Kevin McMahon — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:38:39 +0000

Hi Amy,

You probably are being too cynical

- most often the data is used directly by the patient for self-management in the form of automatic reports, reminders, and alerts (patient’s always manage themselves).

- wireless glucose meter data never goes directly to anyone. It’s managed by complex informatics algorithms that consider the patient profile, real-time disease state, and any one of a number of Intensive Management Protocols that may be applicable at the moment (ie – Islet Cell Transplant patient surveillance, Newly Diagnosed Type 1, Type 2 pharma transition from oral meds to MDI, etc…).

- Diabetes House Call is paid out of pocket via the patient’s Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Account or MC/VISA/AMEX. The Pilot for this new model of premium care is targeting those who demand more and is being conducted in partnership with Driscoll Children’s Hospital. DHC endos get to work with a lighter patient load and deliver the level of care that most endos wish they could offer but can’t due to the current insurance-centric model.

If you really want to understand how patient’s are getting better results, read for yourself at:

http://www.diabetech.net/sharedExperiences.html

This is a new area and Diabetech is making exciting progress improving patient outcomes every day with wireless technology.

By: Alice H

Alice H — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:07:40 +0000

(One of my jobs is validating medical software, although I’ve never done any software for diabetes monitoring.)

I think a lot of it will depend on how the data is output at the doctor’s end. If the software designers are smart, they’ve put alerts into the output to let the doctors eyeball a report in a short time to see if there’s a problem – i.e. printing worrisome results in a different color, or including a warning message in the report header. (This is what is done for studies where a device is used to monitor respiratory data collected with a diary device.)

Probably the only way it’s going to be useful is for trending and to let the doctor know if a patient is being non-compliant with their insulin dosage. But if someone’s being non-compliant, why would they use a device that’s going to alert their doctor?

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:50:44 +0000

Although I like the idea of combining my cell phone with my meter using something like the GlucoPack Phone from HealthPia America, I do not care for the idea of sending the data to a centralized database of any type, let alone to my doctor. That sounds like another way of introducing identity theft to me.

By: Becky

Becky — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:32:52 +0000

I agree that I wouldn’t use this technology to communicate with Drs. but this could be very helpful for parents of youngsters with diabetes. Putting your child in others care is difficult and having bs sent to us could solve alot of problems with schools/daycares. We are very lucky to have a great school, but there are some horror stories out there.

Of course, now that I have my son on the Dexcom, I wouldn’t be happy with finger poke values alone LOL!! I would want to know direction and rate of change! Now they need to work on wirelessly sending data from CGMS to our cell phones

By: Scott K. Johnson

Scott K. Johnson — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:20:07 +0000

And really what use are the numbers if they don’t have the surrounding circumstances (the “complete picture”).

I also would like to say I’m a big fan of David Mendosa. He has been a great resource for the diabetes community for a very long time.

By: ralph berry

ralph berry — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:43:55 +0000

My Dad was a phsician and he used to say let the doctor in you heal yourself. I have lived by that motto pretty much for almost 60 years of type one diabetes and can not agree more with the better done by the one who knows it best which is the patient.

By: Chrissie in Belgium

Chrissie in Belgium — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:34:26 +0000

Yup I am quite sceptical to the wireless info feed to doctors. I really do doubt they have the time or organization to handle it. CGMs seem to be a better way to go – although they do demand dedication from the patient and still remain very expensive.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:25:19 +0000

Amy,
I’ve always believed that to have the best control possible of your diabetes you need to be able to make good decisions independent of your doctor concerning managing your sugar levels and insulin. Point being, if my blood sugar is 350, do I call my doctor and ask if it is alright to adjust my normal insulin dosage, or do I just go ahead and figure out on my own that it is probably going to be okay to correct for this high? That is to one extreme, but in my experience with diabetics, I’ve actually met diabetics that were so dependent on their health care team that they would choose to not correct their high. A prescribed dosage is a prescribed dosage right? I love my endocrine team for the insight they give me into my sugars, and their willingness to make changes that I can’t see need to be made or resist making for whatever reason. I need to be able to manage my sugars greatly on my own though. I only see them every three months!