AI-powered RPM improves chronic disease care while saving costs
About one in three Americans, 96 million adults, have prediabetes – but only 2-3% is offered help to prevent progression to a full-blown disease.
The medical effects of diabetes are of course significant: they affect vision, circulation, and in severe cases even require amputation. But there are other implications as well. With countless health care resources devoted to managing the disease’s myriad medical risks, Tackling diabetes – and ideally preventing it – would save American taxpayers enormous amounts of money.
Remote patient monitoring offers great promise to help treat chronic disease patients, including diabetics, and improve their lives. And the rise of artificial intelligence and automation offers great opportunities to improve RPM technology.
Oren Nissim is CEO and co-founder of Brook Health, a developer of AI-powered remote monitoring tools. He is also a type 2 diabetic.
We interviewed Nissim about the challenges of diabetes management, how RPM can help overcome some of those challenges, how AI can enhance RPM technology in chronic disease management, how properly managing diabetes can save taxpayers money, and what Nissim calls “the next generation of remote care.”
Q. What does the diabetes landscape look like in America today and what are some of the biggest challenges?
A. When you hear about diabetes these days, the biggest topic is that GLP-1 drugs have become incredibly popular in recent years. And it’s been a transformative experience for people who take these drugs, for two reasons. First, they help you control your blood sugar better. Second, and this is probably what gets the most attention, people who take GLP-1 drugs lose a lot of weight.
That’s a good thing. The problem is that these are forever drugs, which means patients have to take them for the rest of their lives. I doubt anyone wants that, but they all end up there because people become dependent on these drugs.
But not everyone should take GLP-1 drugs, and they’re not always covered by insurance. So there’s a growing trend of people paying for these drugs out of pocket, which is incredibly expensive and not very fair.
In addition to this disparity, there is still an abundance of “food deserts” in the U.S., which only exacerbates the overall poor eating habits in this country. Also, the inaccessibility of dietary management is another hurdle that far too many people face. We need to make it easier for people to get help from a nurse or nutrition coach to help them manage their blood sugar. But improving access to care for someone who lives under a bridge or is facing an amputation due to diabetes is a whole other challenge.
Most people with diabetes have type 2. For these people, managing their blood sugars while managing everything else in their lives can be a real challenge. Many wonder if they can do it themselves.
It’s no surprise that a “miracle drug” is such an attractive option. But who, aside from the pharmaceutical companies, really benefits from a drug that must be taken for the rest of a patient’s life when other options are available?
Q. How can RPM technology help overcome some of these challenges?
A. Remote patient monitoring tools can be used in a variety of ways to help people with diabetes. They allow clinicians and other caregivers to monitor an individual’s blood sugar levels, alert patients with reminders, and help them create wellness plans.
I also think the immediacy of highly personalized information is really key when you’re trying to create and formulate a new habit. Not only is this kind of individualized data highly informative and relevant, having access to this data can be both motivating and empowering – which are essential emotional states for creating change and overcoming challenges.
Imagine going to the grocery store and trying to pick out a yogurt. If you have diabetes, the chances of you finding a yogurt product that works for you are incredibly slim, almost zero. And you really have to pick up every package and read the labels to know for sure. If you’ve been to the dairy section of a grocery store lately, you know that there are an overwhelming number of types and brands of yogurt.
The food industry has made it incredibly difficult to make the right choices when you are lactose intolerant. Now imagine using remote AI technology to help you understand those labels, read them faster, and give you recommendations as you are out and about, living your life and making those daily choices.
This is just one example of how you can make a significant change that improves the health of individuals by: Remote patient monitoring technology.
Q. How can AI boost RPM technology in the treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes?
A. A lot of it is about how to get that smart agent to support you on a daily basis and in the way that best enables positive change. That’s when AI can really shine.
Many people mistakenly assume that AI should mimic a nurse or a doctor. But that’s not the right lens to look at it from. Ultimately, it’s more about encouraging healthy habits and behaviors and providing healthy coaching for making those important daily choices.
The reality is that blood sugar control can also be achieved through lifestyle changes and greater awareness. This can be achieved with the right tools and support. No one should ever have to go to the point of having a foot amputated because their diabetes was not under control, but 120,000 Americans People with diabetes lose a leg or foot through amputation every year.
Additionally, AI can take into account an individual’s medical health, beyond their diabetes, as another underlying condition that should be factored into suggestions, recommendations, and wellness plans. It’s more of a lifestyle intervention than a medical intervention, but the end goal is the same: better patient outcomes.
Q. How does what you call “the next generation of telehealth” improve outcomes for this patient population? And how can adequately address diabetes, particularly preventing it, save American taxpayers money?
A. The vast majority of Americans with diabetes are not using AI or other advanced digital tools to manage their conditions. But those who do use these tools have a unique agent with them that understands what’s happening in their daily lives.
This agent can help them make better, smarter, easier choices along the way. That makes a dramatic difference in these people’s lives, because otherwise they’re making diet and lifestyle choices based on their existing habits – and their existing habits aren’t getting them where they need to be.
Today, people with diabetes can go to a doctor or a health coach. They are part of a transactional experience where they are told what to do and they have to do it at home. Unfortunately, that system doesn’t really work because only people who are extremely motivated to change their habits are successful.
The way to help more people successfully manage their disease is to move from a transactional, encounter-based model to one where disease management is woven into patients’ lives. Most people are so used to digital technology these days that they can easily integrate these tools into their daily lives.
By addressing diabetes effectively, particularly through prevention and better management, American taxpayers can save enormous amounts of money by targeting a major source of health care spending. With 90% of Medicare spending related to chronic conditions like diabetes, focusing on prevention and effective management could significantly reduce overall health care costs.
While new drugs like GLP-1 inhibitors are effective, they are extremely expensive and create lifelong dependency. Instead, leveraging widely available technologies like smartphones and AI-driven apps can help people make better daily health decisions at a fraction of the cost. This approach is not only cheaper but also more scalable than traditional medical interventions or expensive drugs.
By empowering individuals to better manage their diabetes, costly complications like amputations can be avoided, further reducing healthcare costs. Given that the U.S. currently spends over 20% of GDP on healthcare, preventing and better managing chronic conditions like diabetes could significantly reduce this economic burden.
Ultimately, promoting self-management and education can help people make healthier choices and better understand their condition, reducing reliance on expensive medical interventions and saving taxpayers significant amounts of money in the long run.
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