麻豆果冻传媒

For Release: November 13, 2015

Lori Atkins鈥檚 16-year-old son, Blake, has type 1 diabetes and she used to track his blood-sugar readings by hand. It was time intensive and sometimes scary, like the night he had a cold and 鈥渉is numbers were going crazy.鈥�

Lori paged Blake鈥檚 doctor and sat at a computer where she painstakingly emailed him the preceding 12 hours of her son鈥檚 glucose measurements to ensure the physician had all the vital data.

Now, however, those numbers are right at the doctor鈥檚 fingertips.

Rajiv Kumar, MD, pediatric endocrinologist at 麻豆果冻传媒 Children鈥檚 Health and Lucile Packard Children鈥檚 Hospital Stanford, has a novel way to access Blake鈥檚 blood sugar readings quickly and provide analysis without mom鈥檚 keyboard or a clinic appointment. And it鈥檚 all because of new healthcare technology by Apple.

Yes, the same Apple that brought the world the iPod, iPad and the Apple Watch.

In September 2014, the company released , an innovative software platform that can securely share patient-generated data with third-party applications. Kumar has been piloting HealthKit with 10 juvenile diabetes patients, including Blake, to look at how well the software works for tracking blood sugar levels.

One year later, Kumar has been so pleased with the pilot results that he is now offering the program to all of his patients who use a continuous glucose monitor and have an Apple mobile device with HealthKit.

鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about this experience,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur endocrinologists are now able to easily assess large volumes of blood sugar data between clinic visits鈥攁nd immediately identify trends that could benefit from insulin dosing regimen changes. We securely review these assessments with the patients and their parents through our electronic medical record called MyChart. This has resulted in very insightful and timely feedback, particularly from our adolescent patients, into specific trends that guide our analysis.

鈥淭here is also an added benefit,鈥� Kumar added. 鈥淲e no longer need to download the data during clinic visits, and this allows us to spend more time with our patients and their parents.鈥�

How does it work? Patients like Blake wear a (CGM) system that sends 288 blood sugar readings a day to an Apple mobile device through Bluetooth, and that data is transmitted via HealthKit into the patient鈥檚 MyChart record at Stanford Children鈥檚 Health. MyChart is powered by , a leading electronic medical record provider.

Blake was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes four years ago, and he says that using a continuous glucose monitor linked to his iPhone and HealthKit has been a game changer, with updated information on estimated blood sugar readings every five minutes.

In the past, he and his mother tried to be diligent about communicating his glucose measurements and assessing his insulin dose needs鈥攁 necessity for treating the disease. But this wasn鈥檛 easy for Blake, who has school, homework, soccer practice and myriad other activities to keep him busy. That left most of the onus on Lori Atkins and what can best be described as a soon-to-be-old-school approach.

Now his mother is able to view her son鈥檚 CGM readings in real-time, and if she or Blake have questions or concerns about trends, they can ask Kumar to check Blake鈥檚 MyChart and provide feedback. No waiting until that next appointment.

鈥淚 love it,鈥� said Lori Atkins. 鈥淗ealthKit has really given us quicker response time and an open line of communication with Dr. Kumar. It鈥檚 been incredibly helpful.鈥�

And for Blake, no additional effort is required.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a hassle at all,鈥� he said, adding that other than changing out the filament sensor once a week, he doesn鈥檛 have to track anything because the software does it for him. 鈥淚t鈥檚 taken the pressure off.鈥�

Having easy and timely access to Blake鈥檚 cumulative data helps Kumar see the big picture.

鈥淏y being able to look at a block of time, I鈥檓 able to detect patterns and pinpoint trends,鈥� Kumar said. 鈥淚鈥檓 also learning more than I would from a routine three-month patient visit. It鈥檚 just a much more streamlined system. My favorite part has been the amount of input I鈥檓 receiving from adolescents to help clarify the blood glucose trends I鈥檓 seeing in their chart.鈥�

鈥淭he success for patients like Blake,鈥� added Kumar, 鈥渕eans that there could be many more ways this technology can deliver improved and timelier patient care.鈥�

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