Vendor trials cellphone-based diabetes monitoring

A Scottsdale, AZ-based vendor has begun a trial of technology that wirelessly transmits diabetics' blood sugar levels from their cellphone to a monitoring server. MedApps is testing out the system, D-PAL, with 50 Pennsylvania-based Medicare and Medicaid recipients over next month. D-PAL's server monitors blood glucose levels, which are transmitted from the patients blood glucose monitor to phone, and phone to network, and calls the patient to ask health questions if the level is outside of the appropriate range. With medical costs for diabetics climbing--standing at as much as 2.4 times higher than for non-diabetics--the idea of remote monitoring has many fans, though no standard approach has been established yet. MedApps is one of few companies that are testing cellphone technology for use in monitoring diabetics.

Get more background on the trials:
- read this article from The Arizona Republic