Welldoc and Montana Diabetes Digital Health Learning Network Partner to Offer Digital Support to Those with Diabetes

COLUMBIA, Md., July 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Welldoc, trailblazer in digital health with the first FDA-cleared Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) for diabetes, announced a collaboration with The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Montana Diabetes Program and the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES) Montana Coordinating Body to introduce the award-winning digital health solution BlueStar® to their Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid populations. Participants in the program will have access to BlueStar to track critical dimensions of their health, including blood glucose, nutrition, medication adherence, blood pressure, psychosocial factors, and sleep. This data will be shared with their own care team enhancing continuity of care.

The one-year program, which began in late 2019, is actively recruiting people with diabetes through September 2020, with the possibility of extending another year. According to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, in 2018, approximately 77,000 Montana adults aged 18 years and older reported having diagnosed diabetes. More than half of this population lives in a rural setting, making access to healthcare facilities challenging.

"For years BlueStar has proven to help those with diabetes track multiple dimensions of their health and, more importantly, stay connected to their provider or team, regardless of location," said Kevin McRaith, CEO at Welldoc. "Montana is a leader in offering telehealth services to its rural population, and we hope to bring those same benefits to those with a chronic disease in a rural setting. Remote patient monitoring and telehealth are accelerating in adoption given the sustainability and scalability of these tools, especially in our current circumstances."

BlueStar is the first FDA-cleared digital health solution, backed by more than 45 peer-reviewed clinical posters and publications, that:

• Engages people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes,
• Delivers tailored, real-time feedback - 24/7, on or offline - to improve long-term health;
• Connects users to their own care team to provide new opportunities to optimize care;
• Seamlessly integrates with blood glucose meters, pharmacies, labs, activity and fitness trackers;
• Aggregates all data points to deliver actionable insights for the user's care team;
• Allows providers to use remote patient monitoring codes for reimbursement.

"Even as a rural state, Montana is seeing incredible advances in care delivery for people with diabetes," said Melissa House, Diabetes Program Manager within the Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Bureau of Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services. "Through this partnership with Welldoc, we hope to be able to expand our telehealth delivery and offer diabetes self-management to individuals who may otherwise not receive this important service."

About MDP/Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists Montana Coordinating Body
The Montana Diabetes Program is a program within the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.  The Montana Diabetes Program is committed to reducing diabetes related disease and death rates, preventing type 2 diabetes among Montanans at high risk and improving the quality of life of all Montanans with diabetes.  To achieve these goals, the Montana Diabetes Programs focuses on the prevention of type 2 diabetes and its complications, quality improvement for better diabetes care, and  to increase access to quality diabetes self-management education and support, data and surveillance of diabetes, its complications and risk factors, evaluation to improve program performance, account for our public health actions and share lessons learned and by partnerships and coordination to share resources, and increase the scope and effectiveness of interventions. 

The ADCES Montana Coordinating Body represents a multi-disciplinary profession of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists across Montana, providing  compassionate and evidence-based care to those living with diabetes and their families, as well as to those who are at risk for diabetes.  They have actively partnered with the MT Diabetes Program over many years, working to reduce the burden of diabetes in Montana, and are on the cutting edge of providing diabetes care, education, and prevention services to Montanans.

About Welldoc®
Welldoc® is revolutionizing chronic disease management to help transform lives. BlueStar®, the first FDA-cleared digital health solution, guides individuals through the complicated journey of living with diabetes by enabling them to self-manage their conditions and enhancing connections to their healthcare team. Welldoc streamlines the relationships between payers, employers and healthcare systems resources, with the goal of improving population health and reducing costs of chronic care. For more information, visit www.welldoc.com.

SOURCE Welldoc