PositiveID releases white paper about the health, economic burdens of diabetes

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. PositiveID has published a white paper that describes the health and economic burden of diabetes on Americans and the U.S. economy, the company said Wednesday.

"Fixing the Black Hole in Diabetes Management" discusses how patient care and overall health improves when there is a high quality of patient-clinician collaboration. Additionally, PositiveID noted that diabetics who follow recommended self-monitoring blood-glucose testing-level guidelines may not share the test results with their healthcare providers -- the test results are not being used to improve glycemic control and achieve long-term goals, thus getting lost in a "black hole."

PositiveID pointed out that the use of such monitoring systems as its iGlucose system, which uses wireless SMS messaging to automatically communicate a diabetic’s glucose levels in real-time, can be beneficial to diabetic patients. Citing a a 2009 study, “Excessive Hospitalizations and Its Associated Economic Burden among People with Diabetes in the United States,” found that in 2005, hospital charges alone and medical costs for individuals with diabetes exceeded $171 billion and $90 billion, respectively.

Scott Silverman, PositiveID chairman and CEO said, “We believe the benefits of the iGlucose system are obvious. It can provide improved health outcomes through real-time disease management, simplifying patients’ lives and enhancing vital communication between patients and their healthcare providers. iGlucose also has the ability to decrease fraud and healthcare costs for providers and insurers by automatically creating compliant patient testing logs, which are required to comply with Medicare Part B reimbursement regulations.”