Health IT, Patient Engagement

Philips unveils Type 1 diabetes app to aggregate consumer and clinical data

Philips Healthcare has unveiled an app for people with Type 1 diabetes, the first of a series of apps for people with chronic conditions.

As part of the continued push for ways to aggregate digital health data, Philips Healthcare has unveiled an app for people with Type 1 diabetes, according to a company statement. Its debut at the Dreamforce conference this week is part of a move by Philips to expand its personal health information offerings and makes use of the recently launched Salesforce app cloud

Its app, developed with Dutch Radboud University Medical Center, provides a way for patients to track blood glucose levels, insulin use, nutrition, physical activity, mood and stress and get data-driven feedback and coaching guidance.

That description could apply to several apps on the market that have at least a year up on Philips move, such as My Sugr, which is one of the most popular apps for people with diabetes.

But the differentiator, from Philips POV, is its app also connects consumers to healthcare providers through a virtual community and allows them to share both their personal health data collected from connected glucometers and activity trackers, along with self reported information and healthcare organization’s clinical data from electronic health records. It is built on the HealthSuite platform and uses the Salesforce app cloud.

Users and their healthcare professionals can also communicate with the app either by sending text messages or through shared posts within a healthcare organization’s clinical guidelines.

The app, which is still just a prototype, will be released as part of a pilot by the end of the year . There are also plans to develop the app for other chronic conditions beyond diabetes.

The question of the business model for the app raises some questions. Dr. Carla-Krystin Andrade the Director of Product Management for the HealthSuite digital platform said although the Netherlands where the app was developed has universal healthcare, there is nothing set up yet in the U.S. that would cover the app for users.

She stressed that when the company spoke with advocacy groups on priorities for people with Type 1 diabetes, it identified data that can have life or death implications. Andrade added that it was key to provide a way to visualize data easily.

Companies that create the ability for app and device developers to considerably expand their potential users and add more value to individual products by letting users aggregate their data are helping create ecosystems of digital health tools. They not only provide a way for users to gain insights into their health in the context of activity, diet and other decisions but helps people see the cause and effect. Validic and Human API have been active in this area and Philips Healthcare sees a way to compete.

 

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