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Partnership allows workers to manage diabetes in real-time

Posted On: Sep. 15, 2015 12:00 AM CST

Partnership allows workers to manage diabetes in real-time

Mercer L.L.C. has partnered with Mountain View, California-based technology company Livongo Health to provide employers and their workers with tools to manage diabetes.

Mercer will offer Livongo's cloud-based diabetes management platform to its employer clients, the firm said Tuesday in a statement. A Mercer spokesman declined to provide the cost of the program.

The diabetes management program includes a connected glucose meter that transmits data and messaging in real-time, a smart analytics platform that provides predictive and personalized insight and virtual coaching from certified diabetes educators, Mercer said in the statement.

The program encourages frequent blood glucose checks, provides outreach from diabetes educators, and automatically orders supplies and tracks blood glucose readings, Mercer said in the statement.

According to a 2014 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects about 9% of the U.S. population, and it cost the United States $245 billion in 2012 in medical costs, disability, work loss and premature death.

“The problems surrounding diabetes for our clients and their employees are real, and growing,” said Dr. David Kaplan, Mercer's senior partner and global clinical leader. “These issues go beyond the enormous expenditures tied to diabetes and speak to the human toll of poorer employee health, higher absenteeism and lower productivity.”