Glooko Partners to Develop a “Virtual Joslin” Web/Mobile-Based Diabetes Management Platform
By Adam Brown
On January 21, Glooko and Joslin announced a partnership to develop a new web/mobile-based diabetes management platform. The system will combine a “Virtual Joslin” service with Glooko’s universal MeterSync download cable/mobile app/web platform. The “Virtual Joslin” service will allow care teams to remotely monitor, coach, and guide patients between visits. It will also use pattern recognition algorithms to predict when patients are at risk for severe hypoglycemia or other complications, so providers can proactively address these issues before they occur. The program will be offered to Joslin providers and patients across their network of more than 250,000 patients. Glooko and Joslin also plan to make the diabetes management system available to others globally with a fee per participating member per month.
The Glooko/Joslin system will require approval from clinicians to make insulin or medication suggestions. By contrast, Welldoc’s BlueStar (see below for an exciting update on BlueStar) makes automated recommendations from the algorithm. The Glooko system has the added advantage of easy data uploading through the MeterSync cable, which is currently compatible with an impressive 26 glucose meters and 27 mobile devices (both on Apple iOS and Android).
The new diabetes management system has the potential to make healthcare more effective by increasing communication and contact between patients and providers, making sense of complicated diabetes data, and helping to prevent very costly complications and severe events. Questions remain over how to keep patients engaged in the system over time, how easy it will be to use, regulatory issues, and whether it will be reimbursed. Joslin and Glooko are at work developing the program and are aiming for a concept that will be presented at ADA 2014 in San Francisco – stay tuned! –AB/NL
