TARHEELVENTURES.COM, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: 102

Description

PROJECT ABSTRACT Diabetesa chronic disease associated with significant morbidity and mortalityis disproportionately represented in African AmericansDiabetes self management education and supportDSME Sis crucial to delaying or preventing disease progressionhoweverlack of access to proper healthcare due to financialculturalknowledgegeographicor physical barriers places this disadvantaged population at further risk for poor disease outcomesMobile healthmHealthtechnologies have shown promise in improving health outcomesbut have important limitations for management of this complex diseaseFor examplethey can lack personalization to usersculturalhealthand educational needsSome technologieslike app and wearablesrequire high self motivationhealth literacyand knowledge for successful utilizationMoreovermost technological solutions do not support the patient provider collaboration critical to sustained behavioral change and ongoing diabetes care over a lifetimeWe propose to build an artificially intelligent diabetes assistantAIDAa chatbot powered telehealth platform that is designed to provide highly interactiveautomated diabetes self care support and facilitate remote patient provider collaborationThrough dynamicinstant messaging based conversationsAIDA will provide interpretive feedback of blood glucose levelsconduct assessmentse gmedication adherencemoodand deliver real timeculturally sensitive interventions using smartphone technologyAI technology will enable increasingly targetedindividualized interventionsIntegration into a larger communication platform will allow providers to remotely assessmonitorand intervene using real time patient data collected by the chabotAIDA will be a low costsmart phone basedecologically relevant tool that is highly innovativeengagingand impactfulThis research will be conducted in collaboration with urban based community clinics and University of North Carolina researchers specializing in diabeteshealth disparitiesAfrican American populationtelehealthand behavioral change interventionsIn this Phase I SBIR projectwe will address the following specific aimsConduct focus groups and interviews with African American diabetes patientstheir caregiversand diabetes care providers to collect input on system featuresusability designand messaging contentDevelop three AIDA health modulesglucose monitoringmedication adherencehealthy copingand a virtual health libraryandExamine the feasibility and acceptability of the new technologyA future Phase II application will build on Phase I success by creating additional health modulesnutritionexerciseand risk managementand conducting a clinical trial comparing the efficacy of traditional DSME S to AIDA support on health and disease outcomesWe envision that AIDA will be marketed to diabetes care providerswith revenue generated through licensing feesIf found effectiveAIDA could be deployed across the national network of diabetes providers programspotentially improving health equity in diabetes care