This week marks the start of the 75th annual American Diabetes Association national meeting. No doubt, scientists, researchers, and clinicians in the diabetes world will present novel diagnostic tools, therapeutic interventions, and management strategies. Indeed, the medical community has made tremendous strides toward the development of innovative tools to help people with diabetes. Take these incredible examples: devices that mimic the function of the pancreas, contact lenses that have the capability of sensing blood glucose levels, bluetooth-enabled glucometers, and diabetes management technology platforms that offer the promise of high-end analytics to help monitor our patients with diabetes.
Nonetheless, in our zeal to promote technologic solutions, we find the recipe for improving the health of diabetics to be missing one key ingredient: people. Don’t get me wrong. I love technology. I love data. I have no doubt that the formula of technology + data offers great promise. But you can’t replace people with technology. It’s the reality of human nature – people must be part of the solution. We cannot lose sight of these simple truths in health care:
- Data isn’t equal to knowledge There is that small proportion of the population, already self motivated, who know how to harness their own data. And then there’s the rest of the population – those who will undoubtedly need help to translate that data into knowledge in order to make meaningful changes in their own behaviors and their own lives.
- Apps aren’t equal to behavior change Strapping a device to one’s wrist or logging in to an app periodically does not behavior change make.
- Technology isn’t equal to people Much of the last decade of innovation in health care technology has focused on IT solutions and devices with a repeated desire to replace humans with technology. Technology is indeed necessary to remove many of the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in health care. But for some of the basics of health care delivery, we have to remember that technology does not replace humanity and that devices cannot replace people.
What if technology were harnessed in such a way that we could help diabetes patients manage their disease at the most crucial points? How would the marriage of technological tools and optimally timed behavioral modification impact patient outcomes?
These questions are top of mind, especially as the annual meeting of the ADA begins in Boston. Tech-enabled behavioral health companies like AbilTo, where I serve as Chief Medical Officer, are paving the way by identifying and engaging diabetic patients with behavioral health comorbidities. These individuals are often ‘below the radar,’ but turn out to be those most in need of help. When undiagnosed and untreated, behavioral issues are known to result in poorer diabetes self-management, worse clinical outcomes over time, and greater avoidable use of medical resources.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
There is no debate that behavioral health issues stand in the way of medical well-being. And while we need to plow forward to work diligently toward innovative diagnostics and creative technological solutions for patients with diabetes, let’s not forget common sense. That sometimes people just need people. That behavioral health must not be a forgotten piece of the care equation. And that data + technology + people = an incredible recipe to improve outcomes and lower costs for patients with diabetes.
Photo: Flickr user Keoni Kabral
