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WellDoc App Boosts Health 4X over Pills

R. Colin Johnson | Date: 09-08-10 | Comments

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just approved a diabetes app�the first in a new category of FDA-approved medical software apps that will soon serve every chronic medical condition. WellDoc claims its app improves a diabetic's health index four times more than drugs by using artificial intelligence (AI)�an expert cloud-based system that analyzes a patient's condition, tracks treatment regimes, suggests real-time interventions and detects symptom trends.

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WellDoc App Boosts Health 4X over Pills
Baltimore-based WellDoc claims that its new app for diabetics is the first of a new genre of software designed for physicians to prescribe to their patients just like a drug. WellDoc's AI in-the-clouds acts like a combination doctor-on-call and personal trainer, making sure that diabetics follow all prescribed treatment regimes as well as suggesting proven interventions in response to real-time measurements the patients make of their glucose levels, heart rates, blood pressures and other metabolic indicators. As a result, the company claims the app improves the average diabetic's health four times more than drugs.

"WellDoc's clinical trials show a two-point improvement in the diabetic's [health index called] A1c," says WellDoc President and Chief Operating Officer Anand Iyer. "A drug is considered to be a blockbuster, by the FDA, if it reduces A1c by half a point, but WellDoc does four times better."

WellDoc�s AI in-the-clouds gives expert advise such as directing a diabetic to consume carbohydrates, wait 15 minutes, then retest when blood sugar is found to be low.

The app prompts the patient to measure glucose levels and other metabolic indicators and stores all collected data in the cloud. The WellDoc Automated Expert Analytics System�for which each rule and major decision branch has been FDA-approved�then analyzes the data and returns intelligent suggestions.

For instance, if blood sugar is low, it might suggest that the patient "consume 12 carbohydrates, wait 15 minutes, and retest your glucose level."

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