According to the latest estimates of the WHO, 422 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide, and the number is growing steadily. As someone who is passionate about using eHealth to solve the biggest challenges in modern healthcare, diabetes stands out as one of the defining problems of our era.
Managing diabetes well is essential to the wellbeing of millions of people, to the sustainability of our health systems, and to the long-term durability of our economies. The scale of the problem is immense but technology can help us rise to the challenge.
Cognitive Artificial Intelligence (AI), facilitated by analytical predictive-diagnostics and revolutionary medical devices are transforming the way healthcare is delivered and managed throughout the world. Or, in other words, today’s computers can use patient data from multiple sources, including genomic sequencing and sensors, to diagnose disease, inform treatment decisions, and predict outcomes.
It is my objective to bring the AI revolution to diabetes. When it comes to diabetes care, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence can collect information from various devices to create personalized programmes that support medication adherence and blood glucose management.
At my company, we have developed a Digital Connected Health Platform™ that works with all diabetes devices. Our goal is to facilitate the analysis of data so that we can help patients stay healthy, avoiding the severe complications that can accompany advanced or uncontrolled diabetes.
The insights provided by systems such as ours allow physicians to consistently intervene with patients on a real-time basis, paving the way for a more dynamic kind of disease management. It enables the use of wearables, sensors, devices and home health monitoring systems to transmit data from a patient to their care providers. The system also delivers reminders to patients, prompting them to check their blood glucose levels, take their medication or engage with their providers.
This valuable transmission of data is not only an enormous reinforcement of disease management for individual patients, but it also has potentially groundbreaking implications for research and for population health. The data collected from devices, wearables and sensors provide real-world insights on patient outcomes. This provides researchers a window on how patients respond to treatment – information which is vital to a data-driven value-based healthcare model. Digital health systems can answer crucial questions about what works and for whom.
For physicians, policymakers and payers, these insights are a game-changer, allowing them to make evidence-based decisions concerning the value of interventions. For patients, a digitally-powered and outcomes-focused approach positions them at the center of the healthcare system.
The ability to provide personalized and preventative healthcare is a revolutionary initiative gaining momentum around the world. Innovative AI, integrated within digital connected health platforms, offers a significant opportunity for the growth of global standardization in healthcare. Preventive care empowers patients, healthcare provider organizations, payers and device manufacturers to collaborate, while achieving measurable and successful outcomes.
I am personally confident that AI represents a dramatic shift in the delivery of healthcare, and while focusing on diabetes, we are working in a field where failure is not an option. Success, on the other hand, will have a profound impact on measurable disease management, throughout the world.
