Do Philips and Salesforce Have a Killer App for Diabetics?

The idea behind the new app is to put information and community at the fingertips of diabetes patients.

Chris Newmarker

Officials at Royal Philips, Salesforce, and the Netherlands-based Radboud university medical center think they've hit on a mobile-based app and online community that could greatly help type 1 diabetes patients manage their condition.

The system will be available under pilot release by the end of the year, Philips announced this week. The idea is to give diabetes easy daily access and shareability when it comes to both their own personal health data from devices such as wireless glucose meters and activity monitors--and clinical data from their health providers.

It is but the latest in a string of major moves that Philips has been making to turn around its performance and place itself at the forefront of mobile health. Philips says it plans to introduce similar systems to the diabetes app to address other chronic conditions.

To create the diabetes system, Philips and the researchers at Raboud took advantage of the Salesforce App Cloud and Salesforce's "tremendous capability to bring people together with technology," Jeroen Tas, CEO of Philips Healthcare Informatics Solutions and Services, says in a video accompanying the announcement.

"This application will help transform the daily experience that diabetes patients have," John Wookey, executive vice president at Salesforce, said in the video.

"We really wanted to create an ecosystem that put the patients in control," Lucien Engelen, director of the REshape Center at Radboudumc, said Thursday at the Dreamforce 2015 conference in San Francisco.

Besides the shared information, diabetics can get coaching guidance at home and on the go through the mobile app. The app connects to a secure online community where enrolled patients and healthcare professionals can interact via private messaging or shared posts--staying within a healthcare organization's clinical guidelines. Patients are able to get feedback from their doctors and other health professionals, using the combined data. They can also share their experiences with fellow patients, clinicians and caregivers.

On top of the Salesforce App Cloud, the system also takes advantage of Philips' cloud-based HealthSuite digital platform.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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