Sam Brusco, Associate Editor10.11.17
Diabetes is very treatable, but managing it often feels like a full-time job. So many factors affect blood glucose levels that it can seem impossible to track them all. Strict diet and exercise regimens are key to keeping glycemic levels in check, in addition to regular insulin doses for some patients. Some patients have to test their blood glucose multiple times daily. But without a regimen in place, patients are at risk for a whole host of comorbidities. So how do diabetic patients contend with all this?
Livongo Health, which offers a blood glucose monitor with a companion service designed to coach diabetic patients, is one tool that provides guidance. The company’s cellular-connected monitor takes blood sugar readings and transmits the information to its health monitoring services. If the reading is outside of normal range, that person is flagged and recommended to drink some fruit juice or take a walk to bring blood glucose back to normal levels. If too far from the normal range, it alerts a specialist.
Issuing patients “reminders” about managing their disease and alerting a specialist when necessary are just a few of the benefits of using a mobile health (mHealth) tool to proactively manage a chronic illness. mHealth technologies can also save healthcare costs by preventing an unnecessary trip to the emergency room by detecting an inconsistency early. They could also replace a lengthy clinic visit to adjust a treatment, because mHealth platforms typically collect—and sometimes analyze—patient data to determine if a treatment is working.
MPO’s October feature story “I’ll Take My Healthcare ‘To Go,’ Please” explored the trends and technological advances driving the mobile health market as well as some of the latest mHealth platforms available to patients. Waqaas Al-Siddiq, founder and CEO of Biotricity, a company developing digital solutions designed to aid chronic disease prevention and management, was among the industry experts interviewed for the article. His complete input is included in the Q&A below.
Sam Brusco: What trends are you noticing in mobile health (mHealth) management?
Waqaas Al-Siddiq: I see a lot of activity around app-based solutions that interact with patients. These apps leverage clinical datasets to form the foundation of rule-based engines, which in turn provide feedback derived from patient input. The majority collect and deliver responses through text, voice input, and response, while a select few use a digital avatar. Most of these solutions are similar and focus on medication, exercise, and mobility reminders. Some extend their platform to include mood-based input to determine abstract aspects such as how a patient is feeling. Imagine a patient recovering from a heart attack; one of the aforementioned apps could help the patient with medication reminders, exercise motivation, and mood regulation.
Brusco: In what ways does the use of a mobile digital health tool ease the burden on patients managing their illness? How does it ease the burden on healthcare professionals/caregivers?
Al-Siddiq: There is a lot of room for digital health tools to ease illness management. We are seeing the very beginning of this trend within a limited context. Today, these apps primarily focus on medication reminders and promote patient mobility and exercise. The future variations of such applications will extend to a point where they behave as digital health coaches, collecting data from patient devices, determining trends, and actively engaging patients. They will also require less patient input, acquiring data directly from personal medical devices.
Healthcare professionals struggle to ensure day-to-day medication adherence and facilitate patient mobility, both of which are costly and time-consuming. Digital health devices promote medication adherence and mobility by issuing reminders and increasing motivation. This, in turn, both aids illness management and accelerates recovery times, enabling healthcare professionals to better understand what is working and what is not in terms of treatment plans.
Brusco: Which illnesses in particular are made less burdensome to manage using an mHealth tool, and in what ways does the tool lessen that burden?
Al-Siddiq: mHealth tools have a significant impact on the management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As both illnesses are lifelong chronic conditions, day-to-day management, engagement, and medication adherence are critical to control the condition and delay or slow deterioration. In some studies, mHealth tools have shown a 30 percent improvement in outcomes. The tools have led to an increase in patient compliance. This, in turn, leads to better management and improved outcomes, such as an increase in mobility and productivity as well as reduction in high-risk episodes and mortality rates.
Brusco: What innovative technologies are making mobile health solutions possible?
Al-Siddiq: Cloud connectivity, big data, and mobile phones are working in a symbiotic way to push mobile health forward. Connectivity to the cloud enables devices to access big data and rules engines to cross reference information collected from patients. Remote patient monitoring devices will have an exponential effect on the aforementioned technologies by generating vast amounts of data, improving big data algorithms and streamlining the diagnostic process.
Bioflux, our remote cardiac system, is an example of a remote monitoring device that constantly collects and analyzes a patient’s ECG while simultaneously uploading it to the cloud via embedded cellular technology. The information is then summarized in a report for the physician, expediting the diagnostic process. There are a variety of chronic conditions that can benefit from remote monitoring devices tailored to collect and analyze specific biometrics, just as Bioflux is tailored for cardiovascular disease. As these types of devices become pervasive, they will move downstream into the hands of the patient in the form of personal medical devices. Coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) they will form the basis of personalized medicine and drive improvements in patient outcomes and chronic care management while streamlining diagnoses.
Brusco: What are some of the software advances fueling innovative mHealth technologies?
Al-Siddiq: Big Data, machine learning, and AI will make a huge impact in mHealth. Right now, we see Big Data show up in the form of a rules-based engine. As software advancements in machine learning and AI continue, mHealth technologies will become better equipped to manage illnesses.
Brusco: What’s the future of mHealth tools?
Al-Siddiq: The future is a coupling of personalized medical monitoring devices with mobile health AI to create digital health coaches that actively monitor and engage with the patient to improve outcomes. We will see patients less burdened with manual input of information and more passionate about their health as technology becomes more automated, intelligent, and active—providing patients with the right tools at the right time. The future will focus on personalized mHealth, in which the software adapts to the individual patient based on the clinical data collected from their personal medical devices. Disease management will become effective and efficient, helping us increase the quality of life as longevity becomes more ubiquitous.
Livongo Health, which offers a blood glucose monitor with a companion service designed to coach diabetic patients, is one tool that provides guidance. The company’s cellular-connected monitor takes blood sugar readings and transmits the information to its health monitoring services. If the reading is outside of normal range, that person is flagged and recommended to drink some fruit juice or take a walk to bring blood glucose back to normal levels. If too far from the normal range, it alerts a specialist.
Issuing patients “reminders” about managing their disease and alerting a specialist when necessary are just a few of the benefits of using a mobile health (mHealth) tool to proactively manage a chronic illness. mHealth technologies can also save healthcare costs by preventing an unnecessary trip to the emergency room by detecting an inconsistency early. They could also replace a lengthy clinic visit to adjust a treatment, because mHealth platforms typically collect—and sometimes analyze—patient data to determine if a treatment is working.
MPO’s October feature story “I’ll Take My Healthcare ‘To Go,’ Please” explored the trends and technological advances driving the mobile health market as well as some of the latest mHealth platforms available to patients. Waqaas Al-Siddiq, founder and CEO of Biotricity, a company developing digital solutions designed to aid chronic disease prevention and management, was among the industry experts interviewed for the article. His complete input is included in the Q&A below.
Sam Brusco: What trends are you noticing in mobile health (mHealth) management?
Waqaas Al-Siddiq: I see a lot of activity around app-based solutions that interact with patients. These apps leverage clinical datasets to form the foundation of rule-based engines, which in turn provide feedback derived from patient input. The majority collect and deliver responses through text, voice input, and response, while a select few use a digital avatar. Most of these solutions are similar and focus on medication, exercise, and mobility reminders. Some extend their platform to include mood-based input to determine abstract aspects such as how a patient is feeling. Imagine a patient recovering from a heart attack; one of the aforementioned apps could help the patient with medication reminders, exercise motivation, and mood regulation.
Brusco: In what ways does the use of a mobile digital health tool ease the burden on patients managing their illness? How does it ease the burden on healthcare professionals/caregivers?
Al-Siddiq: There is a lot of room for digital health tools to ease illness management. We are seeing the very beginning of this trend within a limited context. Today, these apps primarily focus on medication reminders and promote patient mobility and exercise. The future variations of such applications will extend to a point where they behave as digital health coaches, collecting data from patient devices, determining trends, and actively engaging patients. They will also require less patient input, acquiring data directly from personal medical devices.
Healthcare professionals struggle to ensure day-to-day medication adherence and facilitate patient mobility, both of which are costly and time-consuming. Digital health devices promote medication adherence and mobility by issuing reminders and increasing motivation. This, in turn, both aids illness management and accelerates recovery times, enabling healthcare professionals to better understand what is working and what is not in terms of treatment plans.
Brusco: Which illnesses in particular are made less burdensome to manage using an mHealth tool, and in what ways does the tool lessen that burden?
Al-Siddiq: mHealth tools have a significant impact on the management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As both illnesses are lifelong chronic conditions, day-to-day management, engagement, and medication adherence are critical to control the condition and delay or slow deterioration. In some studies, mHealth tools have shown a 30 percent improvement in outcomes. The tools have led to an increase in patient compliance. This, in turn, leads to better management and improved outcomes, such as an increase in mobility and productivity as well as reduction in high-risk episodes and mortality rates.
Brusco: What innovative technologies are making mobile health solutions possible?
Al-Siddiq: Cloud connectivity, big data, and mobile phones are working in a symbiotic way to push mobile health forward. Connectivity to the cloud enables devices to access big data and rules engines to cross reference information collected from patients. Remote patient monitoring devices will have an exponential effect on the aforementioned technologies by generating vast amounts of data, improving big data algorithms and streamlining the diagnostic process.
Bioflux, our remote cardiac system, is an example of a remote monitoring device that constantly collects and analyzes a patient’s ECG while simultaneously uploading it to the cloud via embedded cellular technology. The information is then summarized in a report for the physician, expediting the diagnostic process. There are a variety of chronic conditions that can benefit from remote monitoring devices tailored to collect and analyze specific biometrics, just as Bioflux is tailored for cardiovascular disease. As these types of devices become pervasive, they will move downstream into the hands of the patient in the form of personal medical devices. Coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) they will form the basis of personalized medicine and drive improvements in patient outcomes and chronic care management while streamlining diagnoses.
Brusco: What are some of the software advances fueling innovative mHealth technologies?
Al-Siddiq: Big Data, machine learning, and AI will make a huge impact in mHealth. Right now, we see Big Data show up in the form of a rules-based engine. As software advancements in machine learning and AI continue, mHealth technologies will become better equipped to manage illnesses.
Brusco: What’s the future of mHealth tools?
Al-Siddiq: The future is a coupling of personalized medical monitoring devices with mobile health AI to create digital health coaches that actively monitor and engage with the patient to improve outcomes. We will see patients less burdened with manual input of information and more passionate about their health as technology becomes more automated, intelligent, and active—providing patients with the right tools at the right time. The future will focus on personalized mHealth, in which the software adapts to the individual patient based on the clinical data collected from their personal medical devices. Disease management will become effective and efficient, helping us increase the quality of life as longevity becomes more ubiquitous.