Click Here to Read (pdf version) Continuous Glucose Monitoring Why CGMs may help patients and caretakers better manage diabetes Diabetes costs Diabetes apps: How effective are they? Basics on diabetes PUBLISHER’S LETTER Diabetes Screening and Monitoring ‘Broadband Everywhere’: FCC goal Improving Diagnoses A healthcare … [Read more...]
AllSpire Health GPO: Bending cultures
Five mid-Atlantic health systems Bringing about profound change within one organization calls for time, deliberation and ultimately, hard decisions. Now multiply that by five organizations. Five years ago, a group of mid-Atlantic health systems began exploring a virtual network to accomplish things they couldn’t do independently, including group purchasing. In October … [Read more...]
Insights for the 2018-19 Flu Season
HIDA Government Affairs Update By Linda Rouse O’Neill, Vice President, Government Affairs The 2017-18 flu season was one of the worst in recent memory, with more than 700,000 hospitalizations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned the public to prepare for another potentially bad flu season this year. For the 2018-19 season, manufacturers are … [Read more...]
Basics on diabetes
As we eat, the body breaks down the carbohydrates into blood glucose (also called blood sugar), which it uses for energy. Insulin is a hormone that the body needs to get glucose from the bloodstream into the cells of the body. In type 1 diabetes (affecting about 5 percent of people with diabetes), the pancreas does not produce insulin. With the help of insulin therapy and … [Read more...]
Diabetes apps: How effective are they?
Of the hundreds of commercially available mobile phone applications for diabetes patients, just 11 have been researched, and just five have been associated with clinically significant improvements in levels of blood sugar control as measured by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) tests. They are: Glucose Buddy and Diabeo Telesage (for Type 1 diabetes), and Blue Star, WellTang and Gather … [Read more...]
Diabetes costs
The total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes in 2017 is $327 billion, including $237 billion in direct medical costs and $90 billion in reduced productivity. For the cost categories analyzed, care for people with diagnosed diabetes accounts for one in four healthcare dollars in the U.S., and more than half of that expenditure is directly attributable to diabetes. People … [Read more...]
Continuous Glucose Monitoring
A new technology may help patients and caretakers better manage diabetes Ah, the fingerstick. People with diabetes know it well. One fingerstick and a blood glucose meter, and they know their blood glucose concentrations, at least at that moment in time, and whether they need to address it, e.g., with sugar or insulin. But fingersticks hurt. They take time. They’re a … [Read more...]
Windshield Time
Digital license plates Like phones, books and cars before them, license plates may soon go smart. Several companies, notably California-based Reviver Auto, are trying out digital license plates, a development that could save resources and even help police locate stolen vehicles, and may also turn cars into small-scale billboards. Reviver’s digital plate, currently being … [Read more...]
‘Broadband Everywhere’: FCC goal
The American Hospital Association and the National Association of ACOs were among the organizations voicing their support this summer for a proposed $100 million program to promote telehealth among low-income families and veterans, with a focus on services and applications delivered directly to patients outside healthcare facilities. Announced in August, the Federal … [Read more...]
To Grow Sales, Cultivate Empathy
Smart Selling: Distributor Sales Strategies From HIDA By Elizabeth Hilla, Senior Vice President, Health Industry Distributors Association Some people are naturally empathetic – they easily sense and understand other people’s perspectives. If you’re one of those people – congratulations! But if you’re not, no worries – you can cultivate your own ability to … [Read more...]