Diabetes Technology in Primary Care: The Future Is Here, Almost

I recall a recent moment when “seeing” patients at my post–COVID-19 virtual medical office. I was alone in my consultation room with my mask and eye protection thankfully off for the moment. I had my patient’s electronic chart open on the monitor to my left. I had another window showing her recent continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data. On a second monitor to my right, I could see, hear, and talk to her on a video call. My realization was that it was more important for me to have her data in front of me than to have her be physically present and that it was because of her data that I was able to adjust her diabetes treatment plan. I was grateful for the technology that let me view my patient’s data fairly easily, I was delighted that my patient was using the latest devices to get better results with less effort than the old-fashioned way, and both my patient and I were quite satisfied with the progress she was making.

In 2014, Bodenheimer (a family physician) and Sinsky (an internist) argued that we should pursue a quadruple aim in health care—that systemic interventions should not only be about “better care, better health, and lower costs,” but also about improving the work life of clinicians (1). Clinicians thrive on using their knowledge, skills, training, and experience to improve the health of their patients, but we are frequently over-burdened by cumbersome technology and extraneous documentation …