Role of Non-Profit Organizations During COVID-19 for Diabetes Care: Health Care Inequities and Role of Virtual Specialty Clinic

Today, in the United States, we have a health care system that is designed to treat symptoms, not people-and to do so as cheaply as possible with the dual goals of minimizing costs and preventing hospital visits. We are failing on all fronts. We spend more money on health care per capita than our Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) peers, and our outcomes are mediocre at best. Medicine is not personal, health care professionals often have their hands tied by payers, and geography has too much influence on the quality of care available. This has to end, especially since we have the technology to create a truly patient-focused, whole-person approach-one that treats physical and mental health equally and meets people where they are in every sense. Telemedicine can level the playing field and enable higher quality, decentralized care that-when needed-brings specialty care to the masses. Other technologies have an important role, too. For patients with insulin-dependent diabetes (type 1 diabetes), widespread uptake of continuous glucose monitors may be the game-changer we need right now that can facilitate telemedicine to remote places and remove health care disparities. Both health professionals and patients will win-and ultimately payers will, too.