Insulet names Glooko “preferred” data partner and sponsors free Glooko access for all US OmniPod patients and healthcare professionals – January 8, 2016

On Tuesday, Insulet named Glooko its “preferred” data management partner, which includes a nationwide US sponsorship of the Glooko system (mobile app, web portal, office kiosk) for all patients on the OmniPod and all healthcare professionals that care for these patients. “Insulet Provided Glooko” is available immediately and already listed on the newly redesigned and much improved OmniPod website. The companies plan to widely distribute the Glooko platform to clinical sites across the US in 2016.

We assume this is Insulet’s biggest investment in data management ever and a clear move from the new management team to improve HCP workflow, clinical data collection, and outcomes tracking in OmniPod users. It’s also the type of partnership we hope to see more of – medical device manufacturers outsourcing software development to those who specialize in it, rather than trying to build proprietary systems in-house. The integration will presumably get tighter once Insulet adds Bluetooth in its next-gen PDM (submission in mid-2016), which should theoretically send data straight into Glooko’s mobile app without any cables.

This news is particularly exciting for healthcare professionals, who now have access to the Glooko office Kiosk that can download 40+ blood glucose meters, the OmniPod insulin pump, and Dexcom CGM using a single Android tablet. As a reminder, the latter were launched at ADA 2015. We’re glad to see that OmniPod patients will get free access to Glooko, as it’s normally $59.95 per year. This partnership will allow OmniPod patients to view their pod data along with their CGM and exercise data, a growing need as more get on sensors (especially once the Dexcom integration comes to market). While a majority of patients probably won’t download their data every week, Glooko will certainly make it much easier to combine glucose monitoring, pump, and activity tracker data in a plug-and-play system and share it easily with HCPs. The previous OmniPod software was actually Abbott’s CoPilot software, which we don’t believe was widely used.

In speaking to the Glooko team, we have also learned that Medtronic integration is at last expected in 1H16; this has been a long time coming since Glooko first added pump and CGM data last summer, and since Medtronic invested in Glooko last March.

Overall, Glooko has built a broad degree of device compatibility, what looks like several revenue streams to support it (consumer, clinic, company), and prioritized making providers’ lives easier. That’s a solid combination, and we look forward to seeing which data management offerings (Diasend, Tidepool, CareLink, etc.) are most preferred by providers, patients, and payers.

• One thought upon hearing this news was that Insulet was de-prioritizing its integration Tidepool, though that is not the case. Management told us, “Insulet continues to monitor the progress of Tidepool and looks forward to exploring future partnership opportunities with Tidepool as their reporting capability and development process moves further along. In the meantime, Insulet is continuing to collaborate with Tidepool to ensure that OmniPod data will continue to be compatible with Blip and the Tidepool data management platform now and into the future.”
  
  • We asked Tidepool CEO Howard Look to comment on this news, and he shared the following patient-driven perspective: “As always, we're thrilled that there are more choices for both consumers and providers. This is a great thing. Insulet continues to be a great partner. We are committed to continuing support for the OmniPod and the Tidepool Platform and all of our apps. We continue to feel strongly that there should be a free and open alternatives to proprietary systems. As a non-profit we're committed to making sure that the patient always has free and open access to their data. We also feel strongly about enabling an ecosystem of other applications, and allow patients to freely choose how their data gets used.” What a well-said response - we are always impressed with Tidepool’s leadership that always emphasizes the patient view and the big picture and this is no exception.
  • As a reminder, Tidepool was in Insulet’s data management booth as most recently as ADA 2015 (alongside Glooko), and the Tidepool-Insulet partnership dates all the way back to September 2014. Tidepool’s soft-launched Blip software can currently download the OmniPod.

Close Concerns Questions

• Among diasend, Glooko, and Tidepool, will one data management platform emerge as the most provider-friendly? The most patient-friendly? The most payer/health system friendly? What will drive adoption?
• Will an ecosystem of diabetes data management apps emerge? Will patients be able to choose which apps they wish to use to manage their therapy? What apps would patients find most useful? What’s the business model for apps that sit on top of platforms? Who will develop such apps? Will they need regulatory approval?
• What data management solutions are most needed by the diabetes community? Clinical decision support for providers? Therapy recommendations for patients? Population health management?
• In a world where all data goes to the cloud automatically (e.g., Telcare, Livongo, Dexcom’s Gen 5, MiniMed Connect), how many patients will look at it? The historical barrier to data management has been a painful downloading process; now that this is changing, what fraction of patients will elect to engage with their data? Should data management be designed with patients in mind, or should the focus be on providers and health systems and payers?
• How will diabetes mobile apps fit into people’s lives? Can companies  find a way to make apps relevant to the daily lives of people with diabetes?
• What’s the best way to make providers’ lives easier? We continue to hear alarming stats on shortening appointment times (as the patient population grows faster than the number of doctors to care for them) – what do providers most need?
• Will remote data analysis see improved reimbursement over the coming years? To what extent is this a barrier now? Will it change once data is easier to download?
• How will healthcare reform affect data management? Will population-level data management become increasingly important? As providers take on more risk, will they engage with data more?
• Where is the line to be drawn between the patient’s physiologic data and the manufacturer's device data? Is alarm data or CGM calibration data or insulin dosing considered device data or physiological data?
• Are there regulatory or legal or security or privacy concerns to exposing APIs to patients? (e.g., “FDA won’t let you have your own data” or “We have to secure things against hackers so you can't have your own data” or “HIPAA won't let us give you your own data”).

-- by Adam Brown and Kelly Close