1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wireless medical devices for collecting information from patients at remote locations and, more particularly, to handheld glucose monitoring devices for wirelessly communicating blood glucose and other analyte readings from patients to a remote server and for communicating related information from the server back to the patients.
2. Background
Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which a person has high blood sugar either due to the body's inability to produce insulin, or the cells inability to respond to insulin. The disease can cause numerous complications, both short-term and long-term, and ultimately death if not well treated. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States by disease with nearly 284,000 deaths reported in 2007.
Medical expenditures on those living with diabetes in the United States have steadily increased every year. People with diabetes have medical costs that are nearly 2.5 times higher than those without the disease. From 1980 through 2007, the number of Americans with diabetes quadrupled from 5.6 million to 23.6 million, accounting for 8% of the total U.S. population. Based on these numbers, the U.S. has spent over 174 billion dollars on caring for those diagnosed with diabetes in 2007 alone, a figure that makes up nearly 40% of the worldwide cost for treating diabetes. U.S. spending on diabetes is expected to rise to over 336 billion dollars by the year 2034.
One of the factors leading to high costs for diabetes treatment is the issue of patient non-compliance. It is vital that patients diagnosed with diabetes regularly measure their blood glucose levels throughout the day and self-administer insulin injections if necessary. Failure to do so can lead to more hospitalizations and potentially create further health problems, all of which increase medical costs. On average, the annual medical costs per patient are nearly 3000 dollars higher for non-compliant patients versus those who regularly track their blood glucose levels. It is therefore an important initiative to improve the level of patient compliance as it pertains to effective treatment for diabetes.
Current treatment protocols and methods rely entirely on the self-motivation of the patient to measure and record the results of their blood glucose levels which requires a high level of individual attention.
What is needed is a treatment protocol that improves patient compliance and improves treatment by facilitating real-time communication to and from the patient.