Payer Pilots Diabetes Smart Phone App

HDM Breaking News, April 24, 2008

Owings Mills, Md.-based CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield will conduct a pilot study in which it will offer 260 patients mobile phone-based diabetes management software from WellDoc Communications Inc., Baltimore. The 12-month study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of such disease management software on reducing Ac1 hemoglobin levels of patients with Type 2 diabetes.

The application enables diabetic patients to enter their blood sugar readings into their mobile phone and receive real-time feedback on what they should eat and other ways they can help stabilize it. The software also can alert patients when they need to test their levels.

Further, the application sends the data to the vendor's servers, where it is analyzed and can be accessed by the patient's physicians and disease management case workers. It also can support glucose meters that can send data via Bluetooth wireless technology.

The study is being conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine under the direction of Charlene Quinn, R.N. It's also open to doctors and patients outside CareFirst's network and membership.

For more information, go to carefirst.com or welldoc-communications.com.

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:

• Consumer Health
• Disease Management
• Mobile Tech
• Payers