Yesterday blockchain healthcare firm Solve.Care announced it has partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc to create the Diabetes Care Administration Network. The digital network aims to streamline treatment for type 2 diabetes patients.
The network will use an existing system, Solve.Care’s Care.Wallets, a blockchain based tool for managing US healthcare. The idea is to have insurance details, coverage, procedure costs, and healthcare provider communications in one place. The Estonia based firm’s technology will be applied to the type 2 diabetes-focused network to allow patients to coordinate their care with doctors and families easily.
The need
Yesterday’s announcement highlights the importance of the family connection. Solve.Care’s network hopes to connect not only physicians and patients but those closest to the patients. Hence, the burden of adhering to an often complicated diabetes treatment system does not fall on the sufferer alone.
Despite being the most common form of diabetes, type 2 patients often struggle to maintain their healthcare regime. At least 45% fail to maintain their insulin levels, mostly due to poor medication adherence. Some studies found the figure to be a staggering 93%. There is also a clear link between poor treatment adherence and higher mortality rates.
“The Diabetes Care Administration Network will help bridge a knowledge gap by providing a platform which offers vital information on diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in an easily accessible manner,” said Pradeep Goel, the CEO of Solve.Care.
“This is invaluable in the healthcare ecosystem as it allows patients to gain a better understanding of their disease while also coordinating their care needs,” Goel continues.
Indeed, studies claim it is often not the patient’s fault if they don’t stick to their healthcare plan. Diabetes causes blood sugar variations, which in turn cause confusion and exhaustion. Also, doctors often suffer from ‘clinical inertia’ and fail to check up on patients.
Solve.Care and Boehringer aim to address these issues, releasing the network by the end of this year. It will be trialed through the 25,000 patient Arizona Care Network, a client of the blockchain firm, before being made available across the US.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s Vice President of Cardiometabolic Marketing, Graham Goodrich, said: “We are proud to join Solve.Care and the Arizona Care Network to provide patients and providers with additional solutions to help address diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”
This is far from the first tech innovation Boehringer has been involved with. The German healthcare giant worked with SAP to develop a blockchain based pharmaceutical supply chain. More recently, Boehringer announced a collaboration with IBM to research how blockchain can be used in clinical trials.
