MIPS Project Detail:

Werbie, LLC

Improving GDM Glucose Control with GlucoseMama

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Company

Werbie, LLC

Bethesda

Montgomery

County

, Maryland

Founded:

2014

Website:

https://www.glucosemama.com/

Company Description:

Werbie’s mission is to build solutions for women with diabetes. The company focuses on women because women have unique physical and emotional needs that the company’s team of medical and tech experts is uniquely qualified to address. Werbie’s first product, the GlucoseMama Kit for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), is a one-box solution containing the necessary hardware and software for patients to self-manage GDM. In the future, Werbie will also create customized kits for type 2 and type 1 diabetes in non-pregnant women. The company’s aim is to help all women self-manage diabetes, with a focus on psychosocial support, nutrition guidance, and assistance with medication and insulin dosing.

MIPS Project

Improving GDM Glucose Control with GlucoseMama

Project #

5807

|

MIPS Round

58 |

Starting Date:

Aug 2016

MIPS Project Challenge:
The goal of this MIPS project is to keep patients with gestational diabetes engaged in the self-management of glucose and carbohydrate logging between prenatal appointments to reduce the need for medications and to ensure the best possible outcomes for mothers and neonates.

Project Scope:
For this MIPS project, the research team at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Department, led by Sarah Crimmins, FACOG, designed a four-arm randomized control of 120 patients with GDM. They utilized group prenatal care for these patients, as well as the GlucoseMama mobile software platform, to track blood glucose levels and provide nutrition therapy with daily, HIPAA-secure SMS texting. This model of group care with inter-session support has not been utilized previously for GDM.

MIPS funding allowed Werbie to pursue clinical validation of the GlucoseMama software system through an IRB-based clinical trial, which may provide evidence to support Werbie’s claims of improved compliance and outcomes with reduced costs from complications.

Catherine Jones, Co-Founder and CEO

Results:

The MIPS study is currently underway. The project is investigating the impact of GlucoseMama on the rate of compliance with intersession blood glucose monitoring both during pregnancy and postpartum. The research team is also collecting outcomes on the rates of gestational weight gain and medication use in the study population.

Werbie has a partnership with Eocene Health Systems to provide the hardware for the GlucoseMama Kit, including a glucometer and supplies for blood glucose testing. As Werbie collects data points from its growing number of patients, the company’s tech team is constructing data libraries to create algorithms to further enhance and personalize the GlucoseMama nutrition platform, medication and insulin dosing, targeted SMS texting, and live chat interactions between patient and certified diabetes educators.

Gestational diabetes is an increasingly common condition during pregnancy that can have serious and potentially fatal consequences for both mother and child. Managing all types of diabetes during pregnancy is best accomplished with close communication between patients and their doctors and care teams. Patients are required to self-manage on a daily basis by logging glucose levels, restricting carbohydrate intakes, and walking after meals. Logging is essential to guiding treatment and dosing oral medications and/or insulin, which need to to be constantly adjusted as a woman’s pregnancy progresses. This study is also focused on postpartum compliance, as recent studies indicate that 50 percent of women who develop GDM will eventually develop type 2 diabetes 5-10 years after delivery, and they have a higher chance of developing GDM in subsequent pregnancies.

(Source: Werbie)