Rural Telehealth Visits in the Management of Type 1 Diabetes

Despite advances in and increased adoption of technology, glycemic outcomes for individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have not improved. Access to care is limited for many, in part due to a shortage of endocrinologists and their concentration in urban areas. Managing T1D via telehealth has potential to improve glycemic outcomes, as the barriers of travel-related time and cost are mitigated.

Our endocrine telehealth program started in 2013 and currently provides care to nine rural community hospitals in Nebraska and Iowa. A retrospective cohort study was performed to evaluate glycemic outcomes in people with T1D who received care at these telehealth clinics from 2013-2019. Data were collected on age, race, gender, prior diabetes provider, use of diabetes technology, and A1c values over time.

One hundred thirty-nine individuals were followed for an average duration of 32 months (range 4-69 months). Sixty-six percent of people were previously under the care of an endocrinologist. The most common therapeutic action, in addition to insulin adjustment, was addition of a CGM (52%). Each year in telemedicine care was associated with a decline of 0.13% in A1c (95% CI: -0.20, -0.06). There was no association between A1c and age or gender. When stratifying by previous diabetes provider, all groups had a statistically significant decline in A1c, even those with a previous endocrine provider. There was no statistically significant decline in A1c based on addition of technology.

We have shown that traditional telehealth visits are an effective way to provide care for people with T1D long-term and may provide distinct advantages to home telehealth visits.