Digital diabetes management tools do not deliver meaningful clinical benefits and increase health care spending, an evaluation by the Peterson Health Technology Institute found.

"When these digital diabetes management tools launched more than a decade ago, they promised to improve health outcomes for people with diabetes and deliver savings to payers," said Caroline Pearson, executive director of the independent organization, which evaluates health care technologies. "Based on the scientific evidence, these solutions have fallen short, and it is time to move toward the next generation of innovation."

The analysis, conducted by a team of health technology assessment experts and informed by clinical advisors, evaluated eight widely used digital tools that people with Type 2 diabetes use to track and manage blood glucose using a noncontinuous glucometer. The report found that people who use these tools achieve only small reductions in hemoglobin A1c compared to those who do not. These reductions are not sufficient or sustained enough to change the trajectory of their health or long-term prognosis, including cardiovascular risks.