Implementing the OneTouch Verio Flex® Meter and OneTouch Reveal® Mobile Application

Elizabeth Holt, MD, FACE: Dr Miller, early in this discussion you talked about the workflow in your practice and how you bring in digital data. Looking at this study and using the OneTouch Verio Flex blood glucose meter and the OneTouch Reveal app, how do you think you can work that into your practice? How about for a busy primary care clinician?

Eden Miller, DO: The first thing is to understand the awareness that you can prescribe a meter that has this capability. The next thing that individuals do in practice is to say, “I’m going to be purposeful about the next individual I’m going to prescribe a meter for. I’m going to take into consideration this particular meter that has a Bluetooth connectivity.” At the same time, you’re going to be talking to others in your clinical practice. I have a very small practice, so I have more control, but there are clinicians who have different hierarchies. Maybe you’ll go to your IT [information technology] department and say, “I need to have this OneTouch Reveal app on my desktop or my assistant’s desktop. Can you remove the technology barriers to have that interface there?” That’s a critical step because you want to be able to access that data.

When you prescribe that first individual the OneTouch Verio Flex meter, I want you to say, “Go to the phone right now and go to the app store. I want you to download this app.” They’ll say, “What’s this all about?” Look at the meter and say, “What if I told you your meter could communicate to this application? You know how you bring that logbook in all the time? You don’t have to do that.” It also makes it easier for me to share data back and forth. You can email it to me, and I can download it. Then when I see you, I can put that in your chart and have a meaningful discussion. In addition, you can get a benefit from it because you can engage with that data by looking at your patterns. Then when you come to me, you and I will have something to talk about. Instead of me looking at the data and going, “This is what I see,” you can tell me what you see in your life.

Once you identify that patient, you’re going to prescribe the meter and download the app. You’re also going to make sure you have that software interface on your desktop in your clinic. Then as the patient registers and they do those things, they’re going to close the loop. I call it loop closing to make sure all the data flow easily, that we have a nice, closed circuit. The next level is when my staff contacts a patient for an appointment, I say to them, “Remember to bring your technology. Remember to share it with me. Be prepared for that.” It’s in our little message that goes out to them. It’s that prompt to be able to do that.

The final piece is where you’ve done all this closed looping and now you’re going to go into workflow. Train your staff to make notations. I have flags on my chart of what technology they’re using. My staff goes into their chart, they see the technology flag, and they go to the appropriate software. That report is in my chart prior to my appointment, it doesn’t matter if it’s in person or virtual. I have that data so I can have a meaningful conversation. In virtual settings, I send it to them and we view it simultaneously, or I pull it up on my screen to show them. In person, I turn the screen around and I say, “What do you see here? What are the things you’ve noticed? Let me tell you what I see.” We discuss the data in a shared way, rather than them being a good or bad. “Am I on target or not? What have you been learning?” That’s how you get started and jump in into that new process. You’re going to see the benefit it has for you as a professional and the individual benefit.

Elizabeth Holt, MD, FACE: You bring up a good point. Even though COVID-19 is slowing down and patients are coming back in for visits, there are more virtual visits than there used to be. How do you share a paper logbook virtually?

Eden Miller, DO: You don’t.

Elizabeth Holt, MD, FACE: That’s the power of digital that you have all that data and then you can have a much more meaningful discussion with the patient at their appointment.

Eden Miller, DO: Even though we’re not doing it for only infectious reasons, we’ve found that the digital component of telemedicine is more touchpoints. You can have more touchpoints with patients because they don’t have to come in When they come in, they’re like, “I have to drive. I have to see you. I have to get there on time. I have to navigate the city.” I hear it all. Having that virtual medicine component that marries all that virtual tech world, including monitoring and health care delivery, allows for a lot more touchpoints. I don’t think it’s going anywhere. The system is complementary to that medicine platform as well.

Elizabeth Holt, MD, FACE: It also helps equalize access to a degree. Most patients have smartphones, and individuals who are working second or third jobs, who have childcare and elder care issues, can’t easily get to appointments. Maybe they don’t have transportation, but they can use their smartphone to have a virtual appointment and get the benefit they need to help with their disease state.

Eden Miller, DO: Technology levels the playing field. I think about how to utilize it and identify those patients. The prescriber is right there in it, and they need to keep up in a way that helps them and benefits their practice.

Transcript edited for clarity