App of the week: How Diabetes+Me™ Rx helps patients to manage their condition

Rimidi is a clinical decision support company, dedicated to finding more effective ways of managing chronic diseases, which require constant attention and an intensive schedule. With products like Diabetes+Me™ Rx[1], a glucose management software, Rimidi enables patients with diabetes to create personalized and targeted treatments, and facilitate communication with their doctor, who is able to track the treatment’s progress remotely.

Rimidi has created an effective two-way communication network between diabetics and their doctors, primarily through their use of data analytics. The company developed a cloud-based software which enables patients to enhance their monitoring by combining the data from multiple sources such as FitBit, Apple Watch, glucose monitors and other tracking systems[2]. The data collected from each patient is securely stored and combined in a database in the company’s cloud. Through a predictive analysis of Big Data, the app provides insights into the patient’s condition, thus helping doctors identify the most suitable treatment for every person[3]. Care teams are enabled by the app to visualize the expected impact of the treatment, which has improved clinical outcomes, as demonstrated in experimental trials[4].

The app allows for more efficient and quicker check-ups with the doctor, who automatically receives the data on the patient and is able to communicate with the patient through Diabetes+Me™ Rx. The app tracks the user’s food intake, glucose levels, exercise routines, among other health-related data, and enables them to closely follow their condition and to develop personalized health goals[5]. Before Rimidi, patients had to schedule regular appointments, record their results and activities manually and were responsible for communicating their health status to their doctor themselves.

Like with any other medical app utilizing Big Data, there are ethical and privacy concerns that need to be taken into consideration. In order to diminish privacy concerns, Rimidi has to ensure that the medical records are safely stored and not shared with third parties without patients’ explicit consent. Furthermore, access to the app is not universal, which can potentially contribute to expanding the digital divide in healthcare. Nevertheless, it must be noted that controlling the access to the app is key to sustaining a quality database for reliable predictions. By only allowing actual diabetes patients to enter their data into the system, Rimidi is preventing false data entries by non-diabetics or saboteurs which could disrupt the predictive algorithm.

Finally, there are several limitations that need to be taken into account. First, in order to guarantee correct results, patients must keep track of their diet and glucose levels and enter this data into the system frequently. The algorithm can provide users with accurate predictions and advice only if the data given to it by the patients is also accurate. Second, even if patients enter their data regularly and accurately, the algorithm is not infallible and should not be considered a replacement for a doctor. The app’s output is meant to serve only as a guidepost facilitating the decision-making process of the patient and their doctor. Still, the app is as a powerful tool for diabetes management and facilitates patient-doctor communication by eliminating the barriers that stalled the efficient treatment of chronic patients. Rimidi has brought the best of Big Data into healthcare, and has provided diabetics with a tool that makes their lives much easier.

References:

[1] Rimidi Diabetes (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://atdc.org/companies/rimidi-diabetes/

[2] Matos, A. (2018, May 8). Personalized Digital Health Is The Future For Chronic Conditions [Blog Post]. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanamatos/2018/05/08/personalized-digital-health-is-the-future-for-chronic-conditions/?fbclid=IwAR0eTOfRnKVsSUEOEgPC4aH7XAua3O4AskUginN49fP9Wn2WRZTBSQnyrp8#8a893ca1e5bc

[3] Health Level Seven (2017, April 12). FHIR Applications Roundtable 2017: Lucie Ide – RIMIDI [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsmxC99RDns

[4] Back, K. (2016, February 16). Rimidi Remedies Chronic Disease with Diabetes+Me [Blog Post]. Retrieved from: https://hypepotamus.com/companies/rimidi-diabetes/

[5] Beilin, H. (2018, October 22). Digital Health Startup Rimidi Is Getting to the Heart of the Chronic Disease Epidemic: Underserved Neighborhoods [Blog Post]. Retrieved from: https://hypepotamus.com/news/rimidi-partners-cvs-reduce-diabetes/


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