JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Diabetes is associated with significant costs for both patients and health systems. Regular primary care visits aligned with American Diabetes Association guidelines could help mitigate those costs. Digital interventions prompting those visits among unengaged patients could provide significant economic value back to the health system as well as individual patients, but few economic models have been put forth to understand this value.

Objective:

This paper presents a data-driven model for estimating the economic impact for a health system of an email and text message intervention that drives appropriate primary care usage among patients with diabetes who have been historically unengaged with their care.

Methods:

We developed a model that segments patients with diabetes according to their level of blood sugar control as measured by their most recent HbA1c value. The model takes into consideration the population base rates of comorbid conditions for patients with diabetes, as well as physician reimbursement rates, inpatient admissions avoided, and historical impact of digital health solutions.

Results:

We present a conceptual model to measure the economic impact of an email and text message-based intervention used with patients with documented diabetes diagnoses and calculate a return on investment for a health care system implementing it for their population. The model offers a method to understand and test the financial impact of a primary care-focused diabetes population inclusive of costs driven by comorbid conditions.

Conclusions:

The proposed economic model can offer a holistic way for health systems to understand the economic benefits delivered by interventions focused on primary care and prevention for patients with diabetes.