Hospitals may realize important savings by helping recently discharged patients control their diabetes with DarioHealth

People living with diabetes are readmitted into hospitals at a much higher rate than the general population of hospitalized patients. Between 14% and 23%1 of  hospitalized patients who have diabetes end up back in the hospital within 30 days of release, as compared to  8.5% to 13.5% for all hospitalized patients in the U.S. According to a recent study2, hospital readmissions are a significant contributor to the estimated $218 billion spent in the U.S. on direct healthcare costs for people living with diabetes.  For Medicare alone, hospital readmissions cost $17.4 billion3 per year. Hospitals are paying dearly for patient readmissions, as they are financially penalized4 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for their readmission rates.

Reducing readmission rates can lead to improved financial efficiency at hospitals and a better quality of life for patients who can stay home in good, stable health instead of being rushed back to the hospital.

DarioHealth’s digital health diabetes management solution is designed to help hospital Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) and nurses support patients discharged from hospitals in managing their blood glucose levels. They immediately receive the information entered by the patient, including blood glucose measurement, so that they can provide relevant advice to the patient. Through the DarioEngage™ software, they can manage a population of patients and focus their attention on those needing the most support.

A scientific article5 titled, “Reducing Hospital Readmission: Current Strategies and Future Directions,” listed the components of ideal transition care from hospital to home that reduce readmission rates. These included: educating patients to promote self-management; enlisting the help of social and community supports; monitoring and managing symptoms after discharge, and outpatient follow-up.

The DarioHealth digital diabetes management system delivers on each of these components that reduce hospital readmissions, when the patient gives consent to share their data with the hospital and caregivers.

  • Educating patients to promote self-management: Dario’s award winning next-generation Dario™ app integrates a comprehensive educational content library with a two-way-in app chat feature allowing direct communication in the context of the captured data.
  • Enlisting the help of social and community supports: Users have the option of sharing their results with caregivers and family members through alerts, and through posting their results to social media, allowing friends and family to applaud their progress, thereby creating a positive feedback loop and community support.
  • Monitoring and managing symptoms after discharge: Dario’s mobile phone integrated, pocket-size device yields highly accurate measurements in a few seconds. Blood glucose measurements are automatically recorded, providing an analysis of the user’s condition. The system allows simple logging of key diabetes metrics including carb counting, physical activity, and insulin intake. All of these metrics are available in real time for caregivers to access.
  • Outpatient follow-up: The Dario system seamlessly integrates with its caregiver platform, DarioEngage™, used by nurses, CDEs and other healthcare professionals to track and follow up with their patients. Dario’s built-in emergency alerts use the GPS function of the phone to indicate the precise location of the patient.

 

Sustained use of the Dario system has shown to deliver clinical benefits in findings that were presented6 at the American Diabetes Association 78th Scientific Sessions in June 2018.   Data on 17,156 people with type 2 diabetes  who were actively using the Dario system, showed after 12 months of use, a 19% reduction in the average ratio of high blood glucose events, a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hyperglycemic events, and a 14% reduction in the average blood glucose level.

Emergency room and hospital readmissions may end up costing hospitals thousands of dollars per patient. Avoiding these readmissions is a major goal of hospital systems in the U.S. and DarioEngage™ digital diabetes management platform may help hospitals reach this goal.