Diabetes care has long since progressed to a state where self management is the normal course of action for adults and even many children. Through dietary controls, activity regimens, and automatic injectors with pre-measured doses of insulin, one might think there was little room for improvement. And yet there are still 14 million annual emergency department visits related to diabetes in the US and over 75 thousand deaths each year. With better monitoring, many of these would be preventable. Telehealth provides an effective, inexpensive option for measuring and controlling diabetes to those who need it most.
Diabetics who have been properly instructed by their healthcare professionals know all the times of the day and activities around which they are supposed to do spot checks on their blood sugar levels. However, even if these levels are recorded, they provide only a thin cross section of the person’s daily life. Telehealth gives the possibility of all day monitoring so that a whole day profile can be created to improve overall care. Existing technology is already in use for this very purpose. This approach has already been proven particularly effective among urban minorities, a population that is chronically underserved and among whom diabetes rates are climbing.
Editor’s note: this blog post originally appeared on American Well’s website.
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