Greenville Health System Pilots Wireless-powered Diabetes Management Solution

GREENVILLE, S.C., June 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- South Carolina's largest health system is pioneering the use of the world's first cellular-enabled blood glucose management system. Greenville Health System has signed on to use the Telcare Blood Glucose Meter, (the Telcare BGM®) combined with a secure, privacy-protected cloud-based care management server with automated messaging and reporting. The device establishes a constant connection that relays blood sugar data between patient and doctor, with immediate messaging back to the patient, resulting in more customized treatment plans.

Greenville Health System (GHS) is using the Telcare blood glucose management system as part of an employee wellness initiative. Selected employees at GHS are using the meters on a pilot basis, and the health system plans to make the Telcare meter broadly available to additional diabetic employees later this year.

"The Telcare system creates a year-round culture of care by digitizing a consistent support mechanism that's so crucial for diabetics to control their blood sugar levels," said Dr. Angelo Sinopoli, Greenville Health System's chief medical officer. "Employee wellness is important to our company, and cellular-enabled glucose meters allow a new level of care and control for our diabetic employees."

The Telcare solution is an example of mHealth technology, which includes machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions specially designed and optimized for the healthcare industry. M2M describes technology that enables cellular networked devices to create business solutions by exchanging information and performing actions with other devices or networks.

"mHealth devices, such as the Telcare system, truly benefit from the speed and reliability of our network," said Jerry Fountain, Carolinas/Tennessee Region President for Verizon Wireless. "Telcare helps patients and their doctors share vital health information day and night. Diabetes can be a frightening disease, but the Telcare meter is another tool to help patients better manage their health."

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest and most reliable 4G LTE and 3G networks.  As the largest wireless company in the U.S., Verizon Wireless serves 102.8 million retail customers, including 96.8 million retail postpaid customers.  Verizon Wireless is wholly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com.  For the latest news and updates about Verizon Wireless, visit our News Center at http://news.verizonwireless.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/VZWNews. 

About Telcare
Telcare uses award-winning cellular machine-to-machine technology to bridge the last mile between patients and their caregivers in order to improve the care of chronic illness. Telcare's first product is the Telcare BGM^®, a cellular-enabled blood glucose meter for patients with diabetes. In addition to directly reducing the cost of care by improving outcomes and preventing complications, Telcare creates an ecosystem of care that provides caregivers and disease managers with previously unavailable actionable clinical data. Telcare is a privately-held company funded by the Qualcomm Life Fund, Sequoia Capital, and founding investors. For more information, visit www.telcare.com.

About Greenville Health System
Greenville Health System (GHS) is committed to medical excellence through patient care, research and education. GHS offers patients a comprehensive network of expertise and technologies through its five medical campuses, tertiary medical center, research and education facilities, community hospitals, physician practices and numerous specialty services throughout upstate South Carolina. It also is home to one of the nation's newest medical schools – University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.

Among the largest healthcare networks in the Southeast, this not-for-profit system contains 1,268 beds, 14 medical residency and fellowship programs, and the state's largest number of active clinical trials. Recent honors include being named one of the Top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks, Top 50 Teaching Hospitals and 10 Best-led Hospitals.

For more information, visit ghs.org. 

SOURCE Verizon Wireless