Chronic disease management, like for diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is a tremendous challenge in the United States. Experts predict a 75% increase in the number of patients with COPD in the US from 2020 to 2050. According to the American Diabetes Association, diagnosed diabetes alone costs a staggering $327 billion a year in direct healthcare expenses and reduced productivity. Yet, even with that spending, medical advancements, and new medications, fewer than 1 in 4 American adults with diabetes achieved their care targets.
Fortunately, technology has been playing an increasing role in solving the problem in chronic disease management. For instance, physicians and pharmacists are looking for innovative solutions to give them visibility into the patient care management and medication optimization. It’s no surprise that the global connected health and wellness market is expected to reach $612B by 2024.
That’s exactly where Gojji steps in. Gojji’s mission is to make managing chronic health conditions, like diabetes, more effective by monitoring patients and collecting data for improved remote patient care management. Gojji’s real time connected monitoring closes the “Care Gap” – where patients are only seen every few months and lack the support and medication adjustments needed for the optimal outcome. With a combination of technology and evidence-based guidelines, Gojji empowers care teams to put the data into action and people with chronic conditions to get the care they need when they need it.
When it comes to connectivity, the traditional approach is to toggle a bluetooth enabled device to a smartphone; however, this approach isn’t a viable option for the most vulnerable groups, like medicaid patients. “The perception is that bluetooth connectivity is easy, but many users actually have issues with establishing and keeping the connections,” noted Chris Chan, Gojji’s Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer. “This ‘bluetooth burden’ limits the access and ease of use of the solutions, particularly for disadvantaged communities.” In addition, you have to rely on patients opening the app every time after testing to get the latest result, if the patient doesn’t do that (ironically, patients typically just want to read it off the meter and done with the test), you will not get the data you need to perform clinical services. In fact, most monitoring devices on the market only provide a snapshot, rather than continuous remote monitoring.
Gojji wanted to overhaul the customer experience so that the patients didn’t need to be concerned with connectivity. Their vision required connecting glucometers, blood pressure monitors and other health monitoring devices to the internet via cellular connectivity. They faced two challenges: Having the devices work right out of the box, and keeping the total cost low to make sure they aligned the devices with their target demographic.
Reinventing the user experience is exactly what Gojji achieved with Twilio Super SIM delivering the reliable cellular connection Gojji needed to collect the patient data without the bluetooth burden. Patients simply check their blood glucose or blood pressure as prescribed by their doctor and the device sends the readings to Gojji. “Our devices automatically upload the readings to Gojji via a Twilio-powered cellular signal, eliminating stress and burden on the patients,” said Chan. “Plus, with access to multiple networks via one SIM, we know we will have the reliable coverage needed.”
With Twilio Super SIM, we have access to 300 global networks with one single SKU. That means when we start to deploy globally, the service will work just as well as it does in our initial US roll-out.
From the start, Gojji knew that device management was going to be key to their success. The decision to use cellular vs. bluetooth did have some challenges. For instance, they logistically needed to handle activations, deactivations and maintenance in real time. And they needed a combination of feature robustness with flexibility to manage the SIM cards inside the Gojji system. “Imagine having to manually manage 30K IoT devices on a monthly basis. We simply could not have scaled,” noted Chan. “But with Twilio, the device activation process is not a bottleneck anymore, and we are ready to roll out 30K devices in 1 month for one of our program slated to start in Jan 2022. Using Twilio’s power APIs for device management allows us to build the activation workflow seamlessly into our onboarding process. Without this, not only that it is inefficiency and will cost out at least ½ FTE just for device management, but it will also slow down our onboarding process. The ability to see and manage activation and deactivation process avoid delay when we are trying to deliver good customer service, which is critical to our success,” noted Chan.
And that ease of deployment and management links directly back to their initial goal – improving patient care. “We knew if we could solve the connectivity challenge, we could create a superior patient experience. Keeping clients engaged means they will stay on track and that means better outcomes,” said Chan. “Engagement starts with connectivity. With Twilio Super SIM, we can make sure our connected devices are always on, anywhere. In the first year, we will have more than 50K Twilio-powered devices for medicaid patients alone in the US.”
With plans to expand internationally, the global connectivity is one more example of how the ease of deployment increased Gojji’s time-to-value. “With Twilio Super SIM, we have access to 300 global networks with one single SKU. That means when we start to deploy globally, the service will work just as well as it does in our initial US roll-out.”
Using Twilio’s power APIs for device management allows us to build the activation workflow seamlessly into our onboarding process.