Development of “PAD” (Pfeiffer App for Diabetes):

a Diabetes Application for Smartphones

Prepared for: Dr. Dick McCoy

Prepared by: Jamie Jackson

MHA 720 (M90)

April 29, 2012

Executive Summary

PAD (Pfeiffer App for Diabetes) is a start –up company with a specialized application for various

smart phones. This application is one of the most advances of its kind with features that are not

available on the current market. PAD prides itself most on the advanced technological functions which

allow full integration with the electronic health record (EHR) at the patient’s primary care physician

office. The full EHR integration will allow for increased quality and coordination of care for the patient

as well as increased efficiency for the primary care providers.

In addition to full EHR integration, PAD has a messaging capability which will allow primary care

providers to give the patient feedback regarding appropriate dosing of their diabetic medications. The

messaging capability would also allow the primary care physician office to schedule the patient for a

follow-up appointment to assess the patient’s diabetes control.

This application will be heavily marketed to patients and providers as a means of improved

quality of care for patients with the ability to provide a method of earlier detection of uncontrolled

diabetes. Given the heavy occurrence of diabetes in the United States this application will be presented

to those individuals in the middle to upper class who are considered pre-diabetic or already have a

diagnosis of diabetes. Additionally, in order for this application to be successful there will also be an

extensive marketing proposal to primary care physicians who will engage patients around the use of this

application.

Overall, we anticipate that a successful launch of this application will take place by engagement

of patients, primary care providers and smartphone companies. Once successful, expansion into

additional market segments such as specialty providers and insurance companies will be included.

Table Of Contents:

Competitive Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4

Environmental Scan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

Marketing Research………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Market Segmentation Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………….5

Target Markets………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6

Key Features……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9

Brand Positioning…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

Competitive Analysis

Smartphone app developers have made many diabetic monitoring app available for patients.

However, to be competitive, a developer should offer features that makes diabetic monitoring more

convenient for the patient and caregivers so that patient compliance is maintained. The table below

shows key features that would help to make this app more competitive and more desirable to

consumers.

PAD (Pfeiffer App for Diabetes)

Diabetes Buddy

On Track Diabetes

My Telcare Diabetes Pal

EHR Integration Y N N NReceive In-app Provider messages Y N N NWireless connection to Glucose monitors Y N N YData backup with desktop web access Y Y Y YExportable/Printable reports Y Y Y YGoal setting Y Y N YSocial media integration Y Y N N

Environmental scan

Diabetes can affect patients of all ages, including children. The majority of patients are adults

and are diagnosed during middle age. Diabetic patients who have a smart phone will generally be ages

20-65. However, with caregiver access to the app, parents of young diabetic children will be able to use

the app to monitor their child’s diabetes. In addition, older patients who do not use smart phones can

have a family member who serves as a caregiver, help to monitor their condition.

The primary subscriber will typically be a member of the middle to upper middle class due to the

increased costs of owning a smart phone.

Marketing research

Noncompliance with treatment by diabetic patients can substantially increase their risk of

diabetic complications that could lead to death. According to the American Diabetes Association,

diabetes was a contributing factor to 231,404 deaths in 2007. When patients comply with their

treatment, they reduce their risk of serious complications such as blindness, kidney disease, neuropathy,

and amputation. This app will serve as a tool that will improve compliance by allowing diabetics and

caregivers to better monitor their blood glucose levels and receive physician advice for adjusting their

treatment regimen.

To conduct research for the app, physician partners whose offices have implemented an

electronic record will be selected. These select physicians will be early adopters for the app and will

provide feedback on the effectiveness of the app in assisting them in providing care to their diabetic

patients. Initially, a test patient already established in their system will be used to finalize functions to

ensure that confidentiality and security are maintained. Physician offices will select the patients who

will test the functionality of EHR integration. With the test patients’ consent, physicians will provide

data regarding the patients progress throughout the research period. This data will show how the

patient used the app to report information to the t physician and how the physician recommendations

affect the patient’s compliance and blood glucose levels.

During the time of the physician research, a patient will also use the app to test all functionality

except for transmission of data to an EHR. To maintain accuracy and integrity of the patient's EHR,

testing of integrating actual results into the EHR will not begin until after successful integration with test

patient data. The patient will, however, be able to export reports for printing from a PC or mobile

device. The printed reports can be sent via secure email for incorporation into the record.

Market Segmentation Analysis:

Market segmentation will be completed on geographic segmentation, demographic

segmentation, and psychographic segmentation. Geographic segmentation will define the use of this

application by targeting geographic areas with a higher prevalence of diabetes (i.e. Southeast United

States). Demographic segmentation will take into consideration and market our application based the

age of individuals diagnosed with diabetes, gender, income (price of the app, plus cost of smartphone),

generational analysis, and race and cultures with higher dominance of diabetes. Finally, psychographic

segmentation will look at dividing the groups based on psychological/personality traits, lifestyles, or

values. Specifically, we feel this is a very innovative application; therefore, we will market this to groups

with higher resources such as innovators, thinkers, achievers, and experiencers.

Target Markets:

25.8 million children and adults in the United States or 8.3 % of the population have diabetes.

There are 18.8 million diagnosed, 7.0 million undiagnosed, 79 million pre-diabetic, and 1.9 million new

cases in for ages 20 and up in 2010 alone and about 215,000 people younger than 20 years had

diabetes-type 1 or type 2-in the United States in 2010. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure,

non-traumatic lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness in adults. It is also the major cause

of heart disease and strokes and the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. These statistics

have created an exceptional niche in the market for products concerning the prevention and treatment

of diabetes.

Our aim is to grow and expand this market by creating an interactive app that diabetics and pre-

diabetics along with their caregivers can utilize to interact with their physicians regarding their care.

Our healthcare practitioner target markets would be primary care physicians, endocrinologists, ob/gyns,

nursing homes, and home health offices. This is because these are practitioners that generally deal with

patients that fall within the diabetic category. This application would also be marketed to diabetic

patients and friends/family members of people with diabetes.

Our last target market would be Apple, Android, and Blackberry because they are the main

platforms that develop and market apps on their devices. We would first market to healthcare

practitioners because they would be the main users of the app and if they are not open to it then there

would not be a need for it. Once the healthcare practitioners have seen a need for the app we would

then market it to diabetic patients to get their feel for it. After the practitioners and patients have given

their approval we would then market it to the developers and platforms that would carry it.

Our target market would be based on product related segmentation. The target market strategy

we would use would be selective specialization because it is a multiple segment strategy and would

target healthcare practitioners, patients, and developers/platform carriers. Different marketing mixes

would be offered to different segments. While the product itself would not change the promotional

message and distribution channels would vary.

Key Features:

o Receive glucose readings from patient’s glucometer, wirelessly Alert patient if glucose level is at predetermined high or low threshold. Patients and physicians can also update information in app directly or via text

message as well as receive alerts via text through the appo Interface with physician’s EHR

Secure log in Physician alerted if patient’s reading was at predetermined high/low threshold,

opportunity for physician to provide feedback Physicians can send messages to the patient via the interface Patient access to EHR to view lab results, physician notes, request appt., etc.

o Generate historical reports to track the patient’s glucose level Reports can be exported via email for printing if the physician does not have an

EHRo Tracks food intake, insulin/oral medication administration, and exercise

Patient can take a photo of plate before and after meal for nutritional value to be determined

Preloaded with sliding scale insulin dosage Daily reminder to take medication

Tips for healthy diabetic lifestyle (diabetic recipes, glycemic index, exercise suggestions)

Brand Positioning:

Our company and app will leverage itself as the premier diabetic health app on the market. This

will be achieved by leveraging our most competitive edge: a superior mix of clinical and technological

experience and passion for health care. Our company was created by clinicians, computer technologist,

and diabetics so that we have a firsthand view from patient level to creator level. We will be able to

utilize our vast knowledge and experience to create a cutting edge app that delivers on its promise to

change the care of diabetes for the pre-diabetic, the novice and experienced diabetic, the caregivers,

and the physicians through a blend of expert clinical and innovative technological advances.

The app has a category membership of mobile applications for patient centered health status

monitoring. The primary focus is promoting a healthy lifestyle so that the diabetic patients can better

manage their disease to minimize the number of preventable diabetic complications. While this

category has numerous apps, two competitors are Diabetes Buddy from BHI technologies and On Track

Diabetes from GExperts Inc.

The brand mantra for the app is that it is a powerful, patient-centered, comprehensive diabetes

management system that is user friendly. The patients will find that this app will allow them easily

monitor their diabetes without interrupting their busy lifestyle.

The major points of parity with the competitors are a detailed blood glucose level tracking log;

trending comparisons by date/time to identify effect of food intake to insulin dose; calorie counter with

suggestions of healthy food alternatives for food entered. The app will also integrate with social media

sites Twitter and Facebook.

The major points of difference are that the app interfaces with physician electronic medical

records and that it synchronizes data across multiple operating systems (Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry,

and web) for patients who either carry multiple devices or decide to switch to a new device with a

different operating system from their existing device. Other points of difference are multi-device

integration for wireless communication with blood glucose monitors; cloud based backup; and

customizable report exporting to PDF format.

The substantiates are that the patients’ data will be remain secure and confidential and access

virtually at any time and location from any major operating system. The values/personality/character of

the app shows that it is reflective of modern technology trends, convenience for a busy lifestyle, and

promotes healthy living.

References

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"GExperts - On Track." GExperts Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. March 2012. <http://gexperts.com/products/ontrack/ontrack.php>.

"National Diabetes Statistics.”. US Department of Health and Human Services, 06 DEC 2011. Web. 12 APR 2012. <http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/>.

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"Telcare How it Works." Telcare. N.p., n.d. Web. April 2012. <http://telcare.com/how-it-works/>.

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