The McKesson Foundation has announced the six recipients of $1.3 million in research grants, disbursed as part of its Mobilizing for Health initiative, which aims improve the health of underserved populations with chronic diseases through the use of smartphone technology.

The grants, of up to $250,000 each, will support studies on diabetes care and management at six U.S. institutions. The Mobilizing for Health grant program dedicates $1.5 million annually to research grants and field-building activities, such as mobile health conference support and other mHealth field building activities.

[See also: McKesson launches online tool to help docs take advantage of HITECH stimulus.]
 
The studies will examine a range of mobile-health technology options from sending simple SMS text messages to patients to remind them to take their medications to a comprehensive mobile phone-based software program that is integrated with patients' EMRs.

Each study will be completed within one year, several will test bilingual (Spanish and English) messaging strategies and all are designed around patient populations served by community health clinics.
 
"These studies are part of an ongoing Foundation effort to tie innovative technologies to low-cost, scalable health solutions in order to better help patients manage their chronic conditions," said Carrie Varoquiers, president of the McKesson Foundation. "Through initiatives like Mobilizing for Health, the McKesson Foundation is committed to increasing access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for all."

[See also: mHealth apps forecast to increase threefold by 2012.]

The first cycle of Mobilizing for Health grant recipients are:

• Joshua Cohen, MD, and Neal Sikka, MD, of George Washington University, who will study SMS messaging to reduce emergency department visits for people with diabetes
•  Samir Patel MD, of George Washington University, who will explore ways of enhancing diabetes and hypertension self-management with mobile phones.
• Lawrence Cheskin, MD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, who will study tailored rapid interactive mobile messaging (TRIMM) for weight control among the underserved
•  Kevin Clauson, PharMD, of Nova Southeastern University, who will oversee a pilot study to assess the impact of SMS/text messages on medication adherence for Type 2 diabetes
•  David Lindeman, MSW, PhD, of the Public Health Institute, whose project is titled Patient-centered mHealth: New horizons in diabetes care at Family Health Centers of San Diego
• Sanjay Arora, MD, Michael Menchine, MD, and Anne Peters, MD, at the University of Southern California, who will investigate ways to improve diabetes care for low-income Latino patients in the Los Angeles County healthcare system

Diabetes poses a serious and growing health risk in the United States. According to the American Diabetes Association:

• 25.8 million American children and adults have diabetes (8.3 percent of the population)
• 79 million people in the United States have pre-diabetes
• $174 billion was spent in the United States in 2007 on direct medical costs and indirect costs, such as work loss and premature mortality
• Minority populations disproportionately suffer from diabetes and diabetes-related complications

The McKesson Foundation pledged to put diabetes management at the forefront of its Mobilizing for Health grant program when it launched the initiative in April 2010, and will continue to focus its funding priorities on diabetes management and research through March 2012.

Letters of Intent for the next grant cycle are due on April 1, 2011. Interested applicants can visit the Mobilizing for Health website for further details.