Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic and growing illness that affects more than 20 million adults and children in the U.S. Patients with diabetes can avoid serious health complications associated with the disease, by maintaining blood glucose (sugar) levels within a normal range and minimizing daily sugar intake. The Center for Connected Health is working on a number of connected health models of care to address this mounting health crisis, including a remote monitoring program to help diabetes patients collect and transmit their blood sugar readings, access their personal health data and remotely collaborate with their providers from the convenience of their home.

Center for Connected Health Initiatives

Diabetes Connect

This program allows patients and providers to work collaboratively to improve control of blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes.

3 Comments

Center for Connected Health Initiatives

Diabetes Connect

This program allows patients and providers to work collaboratively to improve control of blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes.

3 Comments

Research Materials & External Resources

The Impact of Using Mobile-Enabled Devices on Patient Engagement in Remote Monitoring Programs

The findings suggest that mobile-enabled wireless technologies can positively impact patient engagement, outcomes, and operational workflow in remote monitoring programs.

May 2013 | Stephen Agboola, MD, MPH, Rob Havasy, Khinlei Myint-U, MBA, Joseph Kvedar, MD, Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH

Scaling Telehealth Programs: Lessons from Early Adopters

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) can help improve coordination, improve patients’ experience of care, and reduce hospital admissions and costs. This synthesis brief offers findings from case studies of three early RPM adopters: the Veterans Health Administration, Partners HealthCare, and Centura Health at Home.

January 2013 | The Commonwealth Fund

Diabetes Connect: An Evaluation of Patient Adoption and Engagement

Patient engagement in the program has a positive impact on the outcomes of this collaborative Web-based diabetes self-management tool.

November 2012 | Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH, Evelyn Ling, MS, Misbah Mohammed, MPH, Khinlei Myint-U, MBA, Alexandra Pelletier, MBA, Joseph C. Kvedar, MD

Behavioral Phenotyping: A Tool for Personalized Medicine

Connected health data can create phenotype maps that reveal acquired behaviors and individual responses to health programs.

January 2011 | Kamal Jethwani; Julie Kvedar; Joseph Kvedar

Mobile Phone Technology for Children with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: A Parent Survey

Study participants were receptive to adopting novel health technology to help manage their children’s diabetes

November 2009 | Venessa Peña, Alice J. Watson, Joseph C. Kvedar, Richard W. Grant

Diabetes Connected Health: A Pilot Study of a Patient- and Provider-Shared Glucose Monitoring Web Application

This pilot study of a shared glucose monitoring Web application was well received by patients, and programs like this may lead to improvements in the quality of clinical care delivered to people with type 2 diabetes.

March 2009 | Watson AJ, Kvedar JC, Rahman B, Pelletier AC, Salber G, Grant RW

Telehealth and Diabetes Monitoring

Like other chronic diseases, diabetes offers an opportunity to employ basic and complex applications of telehealth to provide home health monitoring and tight glucose control.

October 2008 | Kevin D. Blanchet

Brave New Worlds: How Virtual Environments Can Augment Traditional Care in the Management of Diabetes

This article presents a framework that demonstrates how applications within SL can be constructed to meet the needs of patients with diabetes, allowing them to attend group visits, learn more about lifestyle changes, and foster a sense of support and emotional well-being.

July 2008 | Watson AJ, Grant RG, Bello H, Hoch D

Reevaluating the Digital Divide: Current Lack of Internet Use Is Not a Barrier to Adoption of Novel Health Information Technology

The authors' results support a more complex view of the role technology can play in improving diabetes care. Internet use is at best a partial indicator of a patient's willingness to adopt technology to improve their health.

March 2008 | Watson AJ, Bell AG, Kvedar JC, Grant RW

Connected Health: A New Framework for Evaluation of Communication Technology Use in Care Improvement Strategies for Type 2 Diabetes

The functional framework presented in this review provides a systems approach to the problem and represents a standardized methodology for analyzing communications technology use in diabetes care.

November 2007 | Mathur A, Kvedar JC, Watson AJ

A short message service by cellular phone in type 2 diabetic patients for 12 months

This educational intervention using the Internet and a SMS by cellular phone rapidly improved and stably maintained the glycemic control of the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007 | Yoon KH, Kim HS

Internet Diabetic Patient Management Using a Short Messaging Service Automatically Produced by a Knowledge Matrix System

Patients who used the web-based short messaging service for 12 weeks lost weight, had better control of their blood sugar, and lower blood sugar levels both before and after meals.

November 2007 | Kim C, Kim H, Nam J, Cho M, Park J, Kang E, Ahn C, Cha B, Lee E, Lim S, Kim K, Lee H

Telehomecare and Remote Monitoring: An Outcomes Overview

This report focuses on how telehomecare and remote monitoring technologies have impacted the care of patients with diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 | Stachura M, Khasanshina E

Use of an internet-based telemedicine system to manage underserved women with gestational diabetes mellitus

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of monitoring glucose control in indigent women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) over the Internet.

June 2007 | Homko CJ, Santamore WP, Whiteman V, Bower M, Berger P, Geifman-Holtzman O, Bove AA

Home telemonitoring of patients with diabetes: a systematic assessment of observed effects

The objective of this study is to provide a systematic review of diabetes 'home telemonitoring' and its effect at the informational, clinical, behavioural, structural and economical levels.

April 2007 | Jaana M, Pare G

Long-term effect of the Internet-based glucose monitoring system on HbA1c reduction and glucose stability

The authors investigated the long-term effectiveness of the Internet-based glucose monitoring system (IBGMS) on glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes.

December 2006 | Cho JH, Chang SA, Kwon HS, Choi YH, Ko SH, Moon SD, Yoo SJ, Song KH, Son HS, Kim HS, Lee WC, Cha BY, Son HY, Yoon KH

A randomized trial comparing telemedicine case management with usual care in older, ethnically diverse, medically underserved patients with diabetes mellitus

The authors conducted a randomized, controlled trial comparing telemedicine case management to usual care, with blinding of those obtaining outcome data, in 1,665 Medicare recipients with diabetes, aged 55 years or greater.

Jan/Feb 2006 | Shea S, Weinstock RS, Starren J, Teresi J, Palmas W, Field L, Morin P, Goland R, Izquierdo RE, Wolff LT, Ashraf M, Hilliman C, Silver S, Meyer S, Holmes D, Petkova E, Capps L, Lantigua RA

Web-based care management in patients with poorly controlled diabetes

The authors assessed the effects of web-based care management on glucose and blood pressure control over 12 months in patients with poorly controlled diabetes.

July 2005 | McMahon GT, Gomes HE, Hickson Hohne S, Hu TM, Levine BA, Conlin PR.

Research Materials & External Resources

The Impact of Using Mobile-Enabled Devices on Patient Engagement in Remote Monitoring Programs

The findings suggest that mobile-enabled wireless technologies can positively impact patient engagement, outcomes, and operational workflow in remote monitoring programs.

May 2013 | Stephen Agboola, MD, MPH, Rob Havasy, Khinlei Myint-U, MBA, Joseph Kvedar, MD, Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH

Scaling Telehealth Programs: Lessons from Early Adopters

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) can help improve coordination, improve patients’ experience of care, and reduce hospital admissions and costs. This synthesis brief offers findings from case studies of three early RPM adopters: the Veterans Health Administration, Partners HealthCare, and Centura Health at Home.

January 2013 | The Commonwealth Fund

Diabetes Connect: An Evaluation of Patient Adoption and Engagement

Patient engagement in the program has a positive impact on the outcomes of this collaborative Web-based diabetes self-management tool.

November 2012 | Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH, Evelyn Ling, MS, Misbah Mohammed, MPH, Khinlei Myint-U, MBA, Alexandra Pelletier, MBA, Joseph C. Kvedar, MD

Behavioral Phenotyping: A Tool for Personalized Medicine

Connected health data can create phenotype maps that reveal acquired behaviors and individual responses to health programs.

January 2011 | Kamal Jethwani; Julie Kvedar; Joseph Kvedar

Mobile Phone Technology for Children with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: A Parent Survey

Study participants were receptive to adopting novel health technology to help manage their children’s diabetes

November 2009 | Venessa Peña, Alice J. Watson, Joseph C. Kvedar, Richard W. Grant

Diabetes Connected Health: A Pilot Study of a Patient- and Provider-Shared Glucose Monitoring Web Application

This pilot study of a shared glucose monitoring Web application was well received by patients, and programs like this may lead to improvements in the quality of clinical care delivered to people with type 2 diabetes.

March 2009 | Watson AJ, Kvedar JC, Rahman B, Pelletier AC, Salber G, Grant RW

JCK promo photoThe cHealth Blog
Check out Dr. Joe Kvedar's new blog about Connected Health:
The cHealth Blog

 

News & Articles Show More

Scaling Telehealth Programs: Lessons from Early AdoptersRemote patient monitoring (RPM) can help improve coordination, improve patients’ experience of care, and reduce hospital admissions and costs. This synthesis brief offers findings from case studies of three early RPM adopters: the Veterans Health Administration, Partners HealthCare, and Centura Health at Home.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 | The Commonwealth Fund
Report: About 300K patients were remotely monitored in 2012Last year healthcare providers remotely monitored about 308,000 patients worldwide for congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension and mental health conditions, according to a recent report from InMedica.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 | MobiHealthNews
More Patients Monitoring Their Health From HomeBlood pressure, diabetes, even heart conditions are now being checked by patients themselves. “It’s clearly the future of where we need to go with health care,” explains Dr. Joseph Kvedar with the Center for Connected Health.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 | CBS Boston
Better Clinical Outcomes via Home Monitoring: Diabetes ConnectDiabetes Connect, a home monitoring program developed by the Partners Center for Connected Health, is demonstrating how patients can better manage their diabetes and reduce HbA1c (the clinical measure for blood sugar control) to achieve better health outcomes.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | Connect with Partners
‘Joslin everywhere’ initiative to expand reach of hospital’s diabetes careJoslin Diabetes Center is planning to launch a virtual platform to distribute its diabetes research and clinical care programs to patients and primary care providers online and through mobile devices. Dr. Joseph Kvedar, director of the Partners HealthCare Center for Connected Health, said the possibilities for using mobile health in diabetes care are huge, not just in managing the disease but in preventing it among those people who are pre-diabetic.
Monday, February 27, 2012 | The Boston Globe
Joslin Diabetes Center Champions Diabetes PreventionIn a statement released today by Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, physicians at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated research and clinical care center strongly disagreed with comments made recently by Richard Kahn, M.D., a former executive of the American Diabetes Association.
Thursday, January 12, 2012 | Joslin Diabetes Center
Diabetes texting program gets a boostThe Center for Connected Health has received a research grant from the McKesson Foundation's Mobilizing for Health initiative to integrate a text-messaging program into an existing program at Massachusetts General Hospital to help diabetes patients better manage their condition.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 | Healthcare IT News

News & Articles Show Less

Scaling Telehealth Programs: Lessons from Early AdoptersRemote patient monitoring (RPM) can help improve coordination, improve patients’ experience of care, and reduce hospital admissions and costs. This synthesis brief offers findings from case studies of three early RPM adopters: the Veterans Health Administration, Partners HealthCare, and Centura Health at Home.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 | The Commonwealth Fund
Report: About 300K patients were remotely monitored in 2012Last year healthcare providers remotely monitored about 308,000 patients worldwide for congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension and mental health conditions, according to a recent report from InMedica.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 | MobiHealthNews
More Patients Monitoring Their Health From HomeBlood pressure, diabetes, even heart conditions are now being checked by patients themselves. “It’s clearly the future of where we need to go with health care,” explains Dr. Joseph Kvedar with the Center for Connected Health.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 | CBS Boston
Better Clinical Outcomes via Home Monitoring: Diabetes ConnectDiabetes Connect, a home monitoring program developed by the Partners Center for Connected Health, is demonstrating how patients can better manage their diabetes and reduce HbA1c (the clinical measure for blood sugar control) to achieve better health outcomes.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | Connect with Partners
‘Joslin everywhere’ initiative to expand reach of hospital’s diabetes careJoslin Diabetes Center is planning to launch a virtual platform to distribute its diabetes research and clinical care programs to patients and primary care providers online and through mobile devices. Dr. Joseph Kvedar, director of the Partners HealthCare Center for Connected Health, said the possibilities for using mobile health in diabetes care are huge, not just in managing the disease but in preventing it among those people who are pre-diabetic.
Monday, February 27, 2012 | The Boston Globe
Joslin Diabetes Center Champions Diabetes PreventionIn a statement released today by Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, physicians at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated research and clinical care center strongly disagreed with comments made recently by Richard Kahn, M.D., a former executive of the American Diabetes Association.
Thursday, January 12, 2012 | Joslin Diabetes Center
Diabetes texting program gets a boostThe Center for Connected Health has received a research grant from the McKesson Foundation's Mobilizing for Health initiative to integrate a text-messaging program into an existing program at Massachusetts General Hospital to help diabetes patients better manage their condition.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 | Healthcare IT News
Center for Connected Health awarded McKesson Foundation Grant to develop text messaging program for diabetes patients The Center for Connected Health today announced it has received a research grant from the McKesson Foundation’s Mobilizing for Health initiative, to develop a text messaging program to help diabetes patients better manage their condition.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 | Center for Connected Health
Center for Connect Health wins support for diabetes programBoston’s Center for Connected Health has won a research grant from the San Francisco-based McKesson Foundation to create a diabetes management program using text messaging.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 | Mass High Tech
Children's project uses social network to map diabetesA team from Children's Hospital Boston is partnering with a social network devoted to diabetes to explore how sharing personal data can help people manage their disease and give researchers a better sense of how it affects a population in a particular region.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 | Boston Globe
Cleveland Clinic program linking chronic-disease patients directly to doctors online shows successA pilot project at the Cleveland Clinic has found that patients with chronic diseases manage them more effectively when they use medical devices to submit health information online regularly to physicians
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | Cleveland.com
Walgreens' Diabetes Management Program Sparks Interest of Health PlansWalgreen Co., the nation’s largest drug store chain, thinks it may have a solution to the growing number of patients diagnosed with diabetes who are not complying with treatment plans. While one expert is skeptical of patients’ willingness to participate in the program because they might have to pay for it, several health plans and employers are considering offering it to enrollees.
Thursday, February 4, 2010 | AIS Health
Your iPhone Just Called: Your Blood-Sugar Is HighSome iPhone applications allow users to track symptoms, diet and exercise or monitor the health of their loved ones.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 | The Wall Street Journal
Mossberg on Blood-Glucose Test: Tech Meets HealthThe latest sign of the health-tech convergence: Walt Mossberg, the WSJ’s personal tech guru who writes about smart phones and operating systems, is reviewing a blood-glucose meter.
Thursday, December 17, 2009 | The Wall Street Journal
Mobile Phone Technology May Address Unmet Needs Of Parents Of Children With Diabetes, Sending Blood Sugar Readings Via Text, To Help Manage Child's IllnessIn a recent study conducted by the Center for Connected Health, new data revealed that parents of children with diabetes were receptive to using novel health technology – such as a mobile phone that could collect and transmit the child’s blood sugar readings to a doctor – to help manage their child’s diabetes. This study was published in the November issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology (Volume 3, Issue 6, November 2009).
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 | PR Newswire
Study: Parents of Kids With Diabetes Receptive to Cell Phone GlucometerWhen we last discussed how cell phones could help people with diabetes in June 2008, the conversation centered around how the need for finger pricking could be reduced or eliminated using mobile technology. A new study was released today by the Center for Connected Health that says parents of kids with diabetes are very receptive to using cell phones to help manage their child's diabetes.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 | About.com Guide to Cell Phones
Undergrad wins $100,000 to expand iPhone app for diabeticsMatthew Connor, a Princeton junior, has been awarded a $100,000 grant to expand his initial application into a Web-based tool to help diabetics stay healthy, and make it easier for doctors to monitor diabetic patients.
Monday, August 24, 2009 | Princeton University
New York City public hospitals credit IT for health boostNew York City’s Health and Hospitals Corp. credits a computer-based patient registry as a key factor behind improving health indicators among its diabetic patients. In its latest data, HCC saw 2008 diabetes indicators improve almost 3 percent over 2007 results among city residents.
Friday, May 15, 2009 | John Moore
Big Brother watches over your healthA recent study by the Center for Connected Health found that by using an online diabetic monitoring system, patients were more likely to stick to their prescribed routines — and in turn, this led to better glucose management. It also turned out that if the patient was aware there is a system — a Big Brother — that is monitoring them, they were more likely to actually stick to their glucose management program than otherwise.
Friday, March 27, 2009 | Mass High Tech
Remote diabetes testing could curb medical, drug costsA new online diabetes management program, Diabetes Connected Health, could save employers and consumers multitudes in ER and hospital visits by putting medical tests and hospital-grade analysis into the hands of the 23.6 million adults and children who suffer from diabetes in the United States.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | Employee Benefit News
Online diabetes management program may improve patient engagementNew data from a recent pilot study conducted by the Center for Connected Health, suggest that an online diabetes management program, Diabetes Connected Health, may lead to improved patient knowledge, engagement and accountability, as well as improved patient provider communication.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | Center for Connected Health
Diabetics Using Twitter to Track Sugar LevelsSugarStats is a simple and easy-to-use interface to allow individual to input and access their data from home, school, work, even while on the road.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 | Health Plan Innovation Blog
Health effort is spelled t-e-x-t The Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Services received a $2.7 million grant from the New York Health Department to use text messaging to manage patients with diabetes.
Thursday, January 8, 2009 | Albany Times Union
Cleveland clinic pilots HealthVault to track chronic diseases at homePatients will be provided HealthVault-enabled digital devices, such as blood pressure monitors and glucometers, and asked to perform regular health monitoring.
Monday, November 10, 2008 | Healthcare IT News
Report: Patient-monitoring tech could save $200B in health costs by 2033Remotely monitoring patients with chronic diseases could cut nearly $200 billion from the country’s health care costs in the next 25 years, according to a new study by economist Robert Litan.
Friday, October 24, 2008 | Government Health IT
German diabetes risk management study begins‘Computer assisted diabetes risk management (CDRM)’ will examine how different e-health solutions can improve diabetes care.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 | E-Health Europe
Intellect calls for more IT in diabetes careIntellect, the trade association for the UK technology sector, says that more attention could be given to how telehealth and telecare solutions, such as remote patient monitoring, could support both patients and clinicians.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 | E-Health Insider
Microsoft gives Partners grant for diabetes home-health programThe Center for Connected Health received funding from the Microsoft HealthVault Be Well Fund to develop a home-based glucose monitoring system for patients with diabetes.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 | HarvardScience
SaskTel and Alcatel-Lucent launch LifeStat™ Remote Monitoring and Health Management enabling effective management of chronic illnessesFrench telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent and Canadian partner SaskTel have launched a telemedicine service in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada for diabetic patient monitoring.
Thursday, July 10, 2008 | Alcatel-Lucent
Payer Pilots Diabetes Smart Phone AppCareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is planning to offer 260 patients diabetes-management software that works on mobile phones. The program is intended to study the effectiveness of the application on lowering the Ac1 hemoglobin levels of Type 2 diabetes patients.
Thursday, April 24, 2008 | Health Data Management
Health Goes High-TechYoung Patients, Doctors Use Cell Phones to Monitor Diabetes
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | ABC News
Diabetes telemedicine system testedRoyal Bournemouth Hospital in Dorset, UK, is piloting an innovative system which allows diabetic patients to monitor their blood sugar levels remotely.
Friday, March 14, 2008 | HospitalHealthcare.com
Diabetes Remote MonitoringDr. Joseph Kvedar blogs on NextGenWeb with an update on the Center's Diabetes Remote Monitoring program.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 | NextGenWeb
Calif. docs participate in remote monitoring program for diabeticsSouthern California physicians will be a part of XTend Medical Corporation's Medical Disease Management Program, which will initially target 500 diabetes patients.
Friday, February 15, 2008 | Healthcare IT News
PAMF hopes its online info system bucks trendThe Palo Alto Medical Foundation is launching a two-year pilot program to promote online communication between diabetic patients and their health care providers.
Friday, January 18, 2008 | San Francisco Business Times
Remote monitoring projects take offLate 2007 saw two exciting diabetes-related remote patient monitoring projects take positive steps forward.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 | Healthcare IT News
Cellphone latest tool in health-care arsenalA new project between Edmonton researchers and LG Electronics could soon allow patients to test and transmit vital signs to a remote nurse using a handheld device connected to a cellphone. The research team hopes to target diabetics by creating a device that can also monitor unstable glucose levels and chemicals in the blood.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 | The Star Phoenix
Near Space Technology Brings Health Care To Navajo NationMembers of the Navajo Nation, many of whom lack access to telephones, will receive glucose monitors that transmit information to balloons flying at altitudes of around 65,000 feet. Health care practitioners will be able to monitor patients' glucose levels and provide advice as well as emergency services.
Monday, November 19, 2007 | InformationWeek
Can BlackBerry save lives?A new medical study is trying to determine whether BlackBerries can help improve the treatment of patients suffering from chronic disease - and possibly save lives.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 | Montreal Gazette
Telemedicine Could Be Answer To Treating Aging U.S. PopulationTuesday, November 6, 2007 | iHealthBeatPalo Alto Medical Foundation Receives $1.2 Million Grant for New Diabetes Management StudyWednesday, October 17, 2007 | AScribeDesigning for DiabeticsInspired by consumer gadgetry, medical-device makers are creating slick tools for insulin injections and readings.
Friday, September 21, 2007 | BusinessWeek
Dialing into the market for diabetes careThis fall, Palo Alto Medical Foundation patients might be eligible to participate in one of the first large studies using cell phones to manage diabetes.
Friday, September 7, 2007 | East Bay Business Times
Diabetes patients on the lineA talking super-computer will help treat diabetes patients by giving advice on diet, exercise and medication as well as keeping tabs on their overall condition.
Thursday, August 9, 2007 | The Australian
Mobile Technology and Blood Glucose MonitoringSunday, June 24, 2007 | DiabetesHealthTelemonitoring health catches on in Hawaii Dew-Anne Langcaon recently received a text message on her cell phone reminding her to take a blood-glucose reading. Another message relayed that she'd had a high reading and should review what caused it.
Sunday, June 24, 2007 | The Honolulu Advertiser
Cell phones would be medical devicesQualcomm is planning to launch a mobile network that would allow people to use their cell phones to manage myriad health issues including diabetes and dieting.
Friday, May 18, 2007 | SignOnSanDiego
 

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