Portable Point-of-Care Type 2 Diabetes Decision Analysis

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The broad, long term objective of this project is to research, develop, and commercialize evidence-based medical decision models. The models will enhance public health by improving the treatment decisions of payers, providers, and patients when considering competing courses of treatment for conditions that are common, costly, and have controversy as to which treatment is appropriate. The specific aims of this Phase II project are to: (1) Develop a commercializable type 2 diabetes model that can be used by providers to assess competing strategies for the management of type 2 diabetes, its complications, and its comorbidities; (2) Design, implement, and evaluate software technologies that will allow the diabetes model to execute in a standalone fashion on portable computing platforms; (3) Integrate the Phase II diabetes decision model, an existing electronic medical record (EMR) system, and the American Diabetes Association care guidelines to demonstrate to clinicians the benefits of complying with the care guidelines at the patient-specific level; (4) Evaluate and quantify any changes in clinician care guideline compliance, resulting from providing clinicians expected patient-specific outcomes data at the point of care. MDM's Phase II diabetes model will be based on an NIH- and CDC-funded model developed at the University of Michigan, MDM's Phase I diabetes model, and an MDM model of hypertension treatment. The existing hypertension model is based upon published studies from peer-reviewed medical journals and examines the effects of treatment with ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin II receptor blockers. In Phase II MDM will develop and evaluate a product with the potential to improve health outcomes and reduce overall costs for patients with diabetes by improving the knowledge, awareness, and compliance of appropriate courses of care. The technological innovation in this project stems from the innovative software technologies that will expand the distribution of medical decision models and the world's interaction with them. MDM's project goal promotes the National Institutes of Health's stated mission of "fostering communication of medical and health sciences information".