28th January 2020
The primary focus of this new platform is a B2B SaaS business model with the primary objective of reducing the likelihood of an overweight or clinically obese person being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, whilst enabling B2B medical & pharmaceutical clients to address pre-surgery reimbursement approval.
Obesity costs the NHS directly £6.1 billion a year including the costs for outpatient, medications and hospital admissions, however, the cost to the wider society per year is £27 billion encompassing home care, loss of working days and reduced productivity. Obesity accounts for between 80 and 85% of the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong chronic disease and represents the highest financial burden on the NHS in the UK. Or indeed, any national or private health care provider in the UK or elsewhere around the globe.
A UK study of 2012 data reported that the annual NHS cost of the direct treatment of Type 2 diabetes in the UK will increase from £9.8 billion to £16.9 billion over the next 25 years. The predicted rise would equate to the NHS spending 17% of its entire budget on the condition, up from about 10% today. The study also reported that the cost of treating diabetes complications (including kidney failure, nerve damage, stroke, blindness and amputation) is expected to almost double from £7.7 billion currently to £13.5 billion by 2035/36. To put these numbers in perspective 2018’s NHS budget was £168 billion.
Diabetes Type 2 has affected approximately 29 million adults and children in the United States. That number does not include 86 million people who currently have prediabetes and are at a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and the current costs to the US insurance companies stands at $348BN.
The primary objective of the platform is based on its ability to deliver the most accurate energy expansion readings (Kcal) based on our proprietary heart rate algorithm that captures both heart (HR) and the variable heart rate (HRV) from raw data delivered by 3rd party devices. [as shown by the results of single arm medical research detailing Cloudtag’s proprietary technology showing weight loss along with body mass index reduction over the trial period against various end points – Health Informatics Journal 17/12/19] Heart rate variability is an important metric because, in general, a high variable heart rate is a sign of health. It is a sign of the flexibility of the heart and of the capacity of the autonomic nervous system to adapt to changes in the demands we face every day. These key outputs namely; Kcal/HR & HRV allow real time & remote accurate monitoring of a patient’s not only physical exercise levels but also the adherence to weight loss programme.
Weight reduction is often essential for obese/overweight patients looking to undergo surgeries relating to overweight secondary medical complications such as hip & knee replacement as well as vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG). Accurately analysing this data, the platform will deliver clear metrics to allow analysis and subsequently insurance reimbursement for such operations. Post operation the platform will continue to monitor the patient’s physical improvements allowing the medical device company that supply, for example, the hip replacement to monitor their patients for R&D purposes as well as marketing efficacy data. Such platform enables medical device companies to ensure successful patient enrolment with reimbursement delivered.
Cloudtag’s current commercial focus and use of the platform is SaaS service charged per patient which will be able to remotely diagnose the individual’s nutritional & physical outputs with 2 primary aims:
- – Pre surgical procedure: getting the individual into the weight range they need to be in order to receive the reimbursement from the insurance company private/government. This platform will be used for pre and post-surgical intervention and,
- – Individuals who are on preventive programme – reducing their propensity for attracting Type 2 diabetes with continual monitoring of the individual’s trajectory against the pre-determined map.
Furthermore, the platform has created a more holistic product (SaaS tool) that will monitor an individual’s physical activity utilising, primarily, raw HR and VHR outputs (from known 3rd party devices) which will be filtered through our proprietary software and augmented with other physiological outputs such as blood pressure, glucose level, urine PH. Further new addition to the platform is inputs are from a data-controlled food and proprietary health digital sensor that gathers personal health data. This information is translated into personalised physical & nutritional advice that contributes to a healthier lifestyle, or that is adapted to specific situations such as weight reduction programme or hospital admission.
The platform’s impact on society is a vast one spanning from the reduction of the number of people who need to undergo surgical interventions with its possible post-complications, reduction in use of drugs & their side effects, reducing social care & direct & indirect health care costs and on the other hand bringing increasing productivity and improving quality of life.