This is a topic I’ve been thinking about for a while but haven’t come up with the right angle or the interesting thoughts beyond the obvious until now I suppose. However, you the reader can be the judge of that.

Now it’s about the Medingo pump - a so-called ‘upgrade’ to the ‘revolutionary’ Omnipod by Insulet. Revolutionary in that it eliminates the tube (while simultaneously introducing several of its own technical issues and glitches). Does it make life with diabetes easier vs a pump with tubing or does it give the user better control over their blood sugars? Not so much. At least it’s not clear to me that the pump or any device for that matter can do that by itself. What if there was an all in one blood glucose meter that doubled as a cell phone with two way text messaging (they want you to say ooh here)… So what? There are already several of these by the way, including a few different versions created by Diabetech’s engineering team. My engineers would agree that these devices by themselves are a big so what. NONE of them have data to show that they are any better at helping a person to control their diabetes nor do they make life easier for the patient. What about the new iPhone diabetes mania? Again, just a tool… so what. CGM is here. Why such a mixed review by the people who are lucky enough to have this available as a covered benefit by their insurance? What about Health2.0? Again, a collection of discreet tools that ask you to spend more time figuring out how to use it by yourself as a one-off. Where’s the focus on solutions or integrating this tool with that tool… a real recipe for success? That group told me they’re not interested in that yet but maybe some day in the future. Huh?

We’re back to the question of how does all of this technology get used by the patient which determines the result.

I’ve been in this field for 8 years now and I still don’t know of any regimented program for how one would use an insulin pump to get specific outcomes. The analogy would be Dr. Bernstein’s low carb/ no carb diet as a prescriptive guide to do this behavior and get this outcome (a non-diabetic A1c below 6 aka the Under 6 Club). Perhaps this is because of the complexity of matching insulin to carbs and the myriad choices made every hour or two by the patient that makes this unrealistic to have a militaristic prescriptive for living with a pump. But why not attempt something like a diabetes boot camp for controlling blood sugar with the emphasis on the regimen and choices vs. ‘See all these new features’ and use them however you like or don’t or skip boluses or whatever. Rightly or wrongly we’ve come up with a term describing scenarios of patients and their random approaches to how they manage as The Free-Range Patient. We chuckle about this but isn’t this really at the root of why it’s so difficult for a provider to ‘manage’ their patients? The fact is that the only person who manages the patient is the patient himself. Providers should stop using ‘managing patients’ since it is entirely incorrect and perhaps gets in the way of the proper perspective which is more of a coach. Mentor isn’t even appropriate unless of course that level of relationship has truly been established which most often times it has not since that is a rare relationship indeed.

Now here’s something that doesn’t require a new device, which can save lives and give you back more sleepful nights while also helping you to improve blood sugar control. This little trick was implemented under the close supervision of our own Stephen Ponder (pediatric endocrinologist) and a team of medical staff ‘hovering’ over their kids. This revolutionary new technique is being written up by Dr. Ponder as we speak and hopefully we can grab an excerpt of it for publication on this blog soon. This new tool is called… wait for it… extended bolus. The trick is in how this tool is applied however. Very cool and worked wonders at diabetes camp this summer. That’s about all I can say so as not to steal his thunder but stay tuned for this awesome new technique that is sure to give many a real boost to their blood sugar control.

So when the bus comes by again to pick everyone up so that they can ooh and ahh about the next magical device for people with diabetes, you won’t see me getting on. What I will do is give it the sideways look and see if it helps to solve a certain problem or remove a barrier to improved self-care as part of a prescriptive program addressing a very specific lifestyle-demographic. More simply, is it truly useful or not by itself and if not, can we make it useful as part of a prescriptive system/program?

Insulet Establishes Eco-Friendly Disposal Program for the OmniPod(R) Insulin Management System Company is First in Industry to Offer Environmentally Friendly Disposal of Insulin Pump Components

Very nice to see Insulet continuing to demonstrate leadership in this field.

A lot is happening this year vs. the past when it comes to technology and diabetes. Namely, the opportunity to task small sensors in the role of providing data as inputs to decision making for better control of blood sugar by people with diabetes… and many other health conditions as well. Decisions can also be made by computers. The trick isn’t just to use sensors or not to use them but how to fit them into our daily living unobtrusively and then making sure they are clearly effecting lifestyle and how we feel day to day.

Sensors & People is the name we’ve chosen for launching our new development program. It is also a new category on Challenge Diabetes so that it will be easy to find the posts that relate to the forthcoming products that we hope to create out of this R&D testbed.

I hope to post an update to our Remotely Monitored Artificial Pancreas (RMAP) project this week. This is just one project within our Sensors & People program. We don’t talk about RMAP much in the public space but it’s been in development here since we first published the concepts way back in 2003 as part of a proposal to the NIDDK. “You should call this OnStar for diabetes” as one parent of a child with type 1 diabetes once described it during a presentation in Sugarland, Texas way back in 2004. And as Sonia Cooper, President of Children With Diabetes Foundation, shared with me during a call discussing the first CGM devices, “CGM alarms for low blood sugar to a person who is unconscious kind of misses the point. Doesn’t it?”.

You would be amazed (or disgusted) at how much cool stuff is sitting idle in research labs around the world. I was even told recently that scientific research grants are being awarded based on evaluation of current business models. Huh? Call me naive but I thought science was pure and evidence forces the adoption of efficacious therapies (ie - leapfrog technology has no business model when it’s an idea)? That’s why we’re accelerating our efforts in this area now. Given the accelerated adoption of our GlucoMON-ADMS by health plans, health systems, providers and patients I think we’ve proven that we know how to get the job done. It’s time for the next generation of products incorporating Diabetech technology and ‘Sensors & People’ is a brand that you will be hearing about a lot more in the weeks and months to come.