South African healthtech company Guidepost has launched an AI-powered chatbot to help South Africans living with diabetes better manage their condition.
One in nine South Africans are affected by diabetes, which is the number one killer of women and the second cause of death in the country. Daily self-management is critical to control diabetes and prevent devastating medical complications. Yet many people battle to cope.
The chatbot supports patients by providing information specific to their unique challenges in a continuous and customised manner, including personalised coaching. It connects patients with Guidepost’s diabetes coaches, who are professional nurses accredited in diabetes education. Many medical schemes in SA, including Discovery Health, cover two consultations with a diabetes educator a year.
“Over several years, we captured the personal pain points of thousands of patients – where and why they struggle, as well as what customised interventions helped them better manage their diabetes,” says Guidepost CEO Graham Rowe. “This data informed the development of our chatbot, which uses AI tools to automate complex judgements in the management of diabetes.”
Uncontrolled diabetes sees glucose levels fluctuate and run too high on a continuous basis, which causes serious, costly and devastating medical complications including blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and limb amputations.
To avoid such consequences, Guidepost’s diabetes educators make intelligent use of the information from the bot to inform their decisions when they provide advice. The data allows them to monitor patients’ levels on an ongoing basis. Guidepost’s offering is aligned with other diabetes management technologies, such as continuous glucose monitoring devices, aiding its coaches to target their support.
Professor David Segal, Chief Medical Officer of Guidepost, says: “Doctors and clinicians are not able to micromanage their patients with diabetes daily. This is the gap that Guidepost is addressing to support patients and improve their health outcomes. We provide patients with the tools and information they need to make better choices and better manage their diabetes.”
Positive results
When glucose levels are stable and within normal ranges, people living with diabetes are able to live healthy and productive lives.
Says Rowe: “Based on our initial rollout to monitor uptake, our chatbot has seen the three-month average glucose levels of more than 2,000 patients drop to within normal levels. This means that we can now extend the solution’s presence across South Africa. The bot has proven itself in that our coaches now have the tools at their fingertips to work much faster.”
Guidepost’s patient base grows by 15% a month, with 2.1-million patient data points now collected and integrated into AI models by Guidepost. Over 304,000 diabetes interventions (e.g. start exercising, measure blood glucose, etc.) have been agreed between coaches and patients.
Rowe says that the company aims to extend the bot’s availability by partnering with life insurers, medical insurers, pharmacy chains and device makers.
“Diabetes technologies are fast catching up with the exploding diabetes crisis. These include devices, improved medicines, and technology-enabled solutions to help patients better manage their chronic condition. We are excited to be part of this technology trend that is already improving health outcomes for people living with diabetes.”