 David Harlan, MD |
A new approach to monitoring diabetes may improve and lower the cost of care by allowing patients and their care team to better manage their health remotely. UMass Memorial Health Care, clinical partner of UMass Medical School, is the first health care provider in the United States to integrate MCT Clinical, a new web-based diabetes management system from MyCareTeam, with the Allscripts electronic health record (EHR) solution used by UMass Memorial’s physicians.
UMass Memorial has already enrolled more than 1,000 patients, who can upload data from their blood glucose meters from home or from UMass Memorial’s outpatient offices—data that is easily added to the patient’s medical record. The UMass Memorial diabetes care team has already noted significant improvements in clinic patient flow and greater efficiencies within the clinic, since data from blood glucose meters can be uploaded by the patient at home and all meter uploads use the same system.
By capturing and presenting patient data in an easy-to-access format that can be seen by the patient and his or her health care team, the integration of MCT Clinical and the Allscripts EHR is expected to improve long-term diabetes management, and enable collaboration among an interdisciplinary team of primary care providers, nutritionists, endocrinologists, diabetes educators and family members.
“The current care delivery model of periodic patient visits to their health care providers does not lend itself to the regular, disciplined self-management and care required for successful treatment of diabetes," said David Harlan, MD, the William and Doris Krupp Professor in Medicine and professor of medicine and co-director of the UMass Memorial Health Care Diabetes Center of Excellence. “Integrating MCT Clinical with the Allscripts EHR revolutionizes our care for patients with diabetes and provides efficiencies not previously possible.”
Studies indicate that diabetes patients benefit significantly from regular monitoring of simple parameters such as nutrition, glucose levels and regular intake of prescribed medications. Non-compliance with the recommended treatment regimen can lead to serious complications and costly but avoidable emergency room visits.
"I like knowing that when I contact them, my entire care team at UMass Memorial can now access my health records and from those records, also see my real time blood glucose meter data, which I can easily upload from home,” said Michaella Conlon, a 17-year old from Leominster. “The fact that my care team can now access all my diabetes relevant data to advise me gives me peace of mind, and my health care team seems happy about it, too."
Michaella’s parents are also pleased with the new approach. “We all feel more empowered by this new system,” said Michael Conlon, Michaella’s father. “It makes assisting her with the management of her diabetes so much easier.”
“Managing care for patients with diabetes is truly a team effort,” said Ronald Adler, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health. “This integrated approach promotes the view that patients are the most important member of the diabetes care team and the idea that some of the most important management of diabetes occurs between visits. The opportunity to communicate efficiently between visits adds tremendous value for patients and the health care team, as it enhances quality while conserving resources. Communication through this innovative system may help resolve health care problems and avoid extra office visits.”
