Michael Gold, PhD
Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management
David Cooperrider
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One Drop is a diabetes management platform that harnesses the power of mobile computing and data science to empower people with diabetes to live healthier lives together. By logging their daily activities, people can see the relationships that food, insulin, and activity have with glucose levels and learn how others in the One Drop community navigate their daily lives, from one good glucose reading to the next. What makes One Drop truly innovative in the medical device marketplace is the scope of how it bundles traditionally siloed functions.
One Drop takes a holistic view of the user experience. “In the current diabetes landscape, whether its an app, a glucose meter, the purchasing of test strips, the way people connect for peer support or the way they connect with a professional for advice, we combine all those things into one platform with an economic model that is superior to what’s in the marketplace," said Jeff Dachis, One Drop CEO. "You have a business model design, you have a commercialization and economic design, and you’ve got user experience which is the touchpoint with the product. This bundled set of information creates an experience that is by far unique and exceptional in the marketplace," he noted.
Dachis, the founder and former CEO of Razorfish, started One Drop because when he found out he had diabetes, he was shocked at how behind the times diabetes care was. All the energy seemed to be focused on managing problems versus preventing them in the first place. He wanted to do something about it. He put together a diverse team of leaders in the fields of healthcare, diabetes, psychology, and data analytics to bring the quantified self movement, Internet of Things, big data, and mobile computing to people with diabetes in a simple, fully integrated solution.
Originally, it was only Dachis. His diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes (LADA) left him extremely isolated with very few options for managing his situation other than the medical and pharmaceutical industry’s traditional system of treating symptoms through insulin injections and other drugs rather than addressing and managing the cause. Out of sheer frustration and a powerful sense of needing to control his own destiny, Dachis decided to educate himself about the causes of diabetes. He soon discovered that diabetes, a chronic disease unlike those that can be prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, is, in the vast majority of cases, completely manageable through diet, exercise, and education. Within months, he was able to adjust his diet and exercise to completely stop taking insulin. At that point, he realized he could provide the 500 million people suffering with diabetes with an innovative technology that could not only change their lives but add to the technological evolution of the management of chronic conditions in the healthcare industry as a whole.
“This is really the future of where things are going. Look at the way the payer system in the US shifts cost structures back to the user," Dachis said. "You've got the user covering most of the initial daily cost of their own healthcare regardless of whether it’s an employer paying the premium. The user pays the deductible every time he or she uses the system. The user is making a monthly contribution as part of the employers sponsored plan. In the end, the user is paying for their own healthcare,” he explained.
“In the current diabetes landscape, whether its an app, a glucose meter, the purchasing of test strips, the way people connect for peer support or the way they connect with a professional for advice, we combine all those things into one platform with an economic model that is superior to what’s in the marketplace," Dachis said. "You have a business model design, you have a commercialization and economic design and you’ve got user experience which is the touchpoint with the product. This information is then bundled together to create an experience that is by far unique and exceptional in the marketplace,” he added.
With the current system, the cost to the individual is obfuscated. The system pushes the burden of responsibility onto the user because employers don’t want to pay for unhealthy employees who are not willing to make healthy choices and insurers are not interested in bearing the cost of unhealthy people and then spreading those costs to the healthy people.
"If you want to pay less for your healthcare, you've got to be willing to stay healthier. Given the huge headwinds we have in today’s food supply chain, it really behooves the individual to stay healthy and well for their own good, for their own expenses, and for their own balance sheet.
Ultimately, I think society is going to say you’ve got some responsibility in this. If you’re going to stay unhealthy then you’re going to pay for your unhealthiness, and if you’re going to stay healthy then your going to get the cost benefit of that. That’s where things are going and One Drop is just one of those tools and those systems that can empower people to make healthier choices."
*All quotes from interview with One Drop CEO Jeff Dachis
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Jeff Dachis, CEO
