Giving Compass' Take:

• This MedCity News post explains how doctors and public health experts are collaborating with engineers to develop large-scale population health research, including in diabetes.

• What are the roles for foundations and nonprofits in the health space? How can we better utilize data for public programs geared towards diabetes interventions?

• Here's more about the power of community in reducing pre-diabetes.

With unique investments in big data and cloud computing, physicians and public health experts have joined forces with expert engineers to design frameworks capable of performing large-scale population health research. These teams are developing predictive models utilizing the most cutting-edge advanced analytics tools today. In fact, the models can potentially disrupt delivery of clinical decision support to the point of care with more intuitive and seamless algorithms, helping to minimize clinician burnout while providing the most up-to-date standards of care delivered to populations at risk.

One area of research where we are seeing tremendous progress is around diabetes.  Diabetes is a chronic condition, which impacts the body’s ability to produce insulin; a key regulator of glucose levels.  It is estimated that today 10 percent of the U.S. population is living with diabetes.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, if this trend continues, 1 in 3 Americans could have diabetes by 2050.

The precursor to diabetes, known as prediabetes, is important because it is reversible ...

If prediabetes can be halted, there is potential to make a huge impact in the battle against diabetes, its comorbidities, and costly complications.  For the more than 30 million people diagnosed with diabetes in 2017, medical costs totaled $327 billion, including $237 billion for direct medical costs and $90 billion for reduced productivity, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Read the full article about disrupting diabetes through data by Fatima Paruk, MD at MedCity News.