Health2Sync Offers Diabetes Management Solutions to Users Worldwide

About Health2Sync

In 2013, entrepreneurs Ed Deng, Ken Lai and Erin Chung founded Health2Sync. Both Deng and Lai came from families of healthcare professionals. Though they began on different paths, the two returned to health services after witnessing family members struggling to manage their diabetes.

Chung, who worked with Deng on various tech start-ups over the years, saw a chance to develop products that could help people improve their health. She joined the team in the role of business development, and the more she saw the global effects of diabetes, the more determined she became to address the growing problems of the disease by leveraging technology and building partnerships with various stakeholders.

The three collaborated to build an extensive digital network of patients and healthcare providers in Asia. By connecting through the Health2Sync app and the cloud-based patient management platform, they are transforming the future of diabetes management.

Currently, Health2Sync has an estimated 60 employees in Taiwan and 50 in Japan. The company consults with in-house certified dietitians and nutritionists to help users reach healthy lifestyle objectives. It has also researched the effects of diabetes apps on glycemic control, with two studies published on PubMed.

Health2Sync’s Published Research

The first study, “The Effects of Continuous Usage of a Diabetes Management App on Glycemic Control in Real-world Clinical Practice: Retrospective Analysis,” included over 2,036 Health2Sync users who tried the app for at least 13 months and received five consecutive HbA1c values for five quarters. The end users had a significant reduction in HbA1c percentage.

In the second study, “The Real-World Benefits of Diabetes Management App Use and Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose on Glycemic Control,” the objective was to assess how using the diabetes management app and SMBG would affect the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who weren’t receiving insulin treatments in a real-world clinical setting. 

They focused on patients receiving care from a single large clinic to minimize factors affecting the study’s results. They divided 420 patients into two groups: the app-engaged-user group and the only-data-uploader group. On average, patients in the first group used the app at least once a week, while those in the second used it at most once a month. The result found that the app-engaged-user group had much greater blood glucose percentage change decreases than the only-data-uploader group.

Simple Healthcare Solutions

The daily hurdles with any chronic illness can become burdensome. Health2Sync aims to build healthcare solutions by incorporating mobile phones, digital therapeutics, and cloud-based services to lighten the weight of managing long-term conditions.

The app allows users to track and organize their blood glucose levels, blood pressure, weight and daily activities. Individuals can learn specific trends and see how their blood sugar correlates to their diet, exercise and medication. Users can also receive personalized reminders and tips based on their data.

It’s not just a data-logging app. The platform also incorporates the following:

• Strengthens communication and connection between the users and their care team, including family members and healthcare providers.
• Alleviates the problem of insufficient medical resources by providing educational content in the app.
• It enables people with diabetes to obtain proper care by offering smart tools.

Smart Tools for Success

Health2Sync provides reminder alerts for blood glucose measurement and other medications. After users set their blood sugar goals, as shown in the first image, they will see their logged blood sugar data with different colors for notifications. 

The icon’s color will turn orange if the logged data is above the set goals and purple if it’s below the goals.

Blood Sugar Measurement Reminders

Users can create their daily schedule before setting up their blood sugar measurement plan, such as when they wake up, have breakfast, and eat lunch. This helps automate the “period” selection when they log their data. Users simply have to enter the time, and the app will select their corresponding period. 

After setting up the daily routine, they can proceed to the “BG Measurement Plan” page, where they can choose at which meal and at what exact time they will receive the measurement reminders. 

Medication Reminders

The digital platform also allows users to receive medication reminders. They can select from the medication database or enter their own, choose whether the reminder is sent before or after the meal, and determine the frequency. 

Health2Sync Connectivity

Health2Sync allows patients to connect with healthcare professionals, family members and friends to help manage their diabetes and set important alerts. Users can export vital records to share with physicians.

“Health2Sync’s partner feature is one of the platform’s attributes that stands out from our peer apps,” said senior marketing specialist Philip Huang. “By adding family members, friends, or healthcare providers as their partners, users can not only chat with them in the app but also grant access to view their data. This simplifies communication and makes users feel more supported along the journey.”

Additionally, the Health2sync app connects with other applications and can sync with Fitbit and Apple Health. Health2Sync collects the following health and fitness data from Fitbit to generate personal health analysis:

• Heart rate: The heart rate will be periodically synced and displayed in the diary along with other logs and measurements.
• Profile: The profile data on Fitbit will also be updated to the Health2Sync profile.
• Activity: Exercise and steps tracked on Fitbit will also be shown on Health2Sync so that they can check how their blood sugar and blood pressure are affected by their activities
• Sleep data: Sleep data will also be synced to Health2Sync as it’s also crucial to diabetes management. 

Health2Sync can be synced with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), such as Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. 

Though the app cannot connect with insulin pumps, it can be synced to devices such as insulin pens or caps from Biocorp, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk. The list of compatible devices. 

People with type 1 diabetes (T1D) undergoing insulin therapy can sync their dose logs, including time and dosage per injection, from Novo Nordisk’s NovoPen® 6 and NovoPen Echo® Plus to the app. This allows users and their clinicians to view the insulin readings along with other health data for better analysis.

Diet Dashboard Feature

After logging their meals, users can check their diet goals to see if they’ve exceeded or reached their objectives for calories, carbs, proteins, and fats.

AI Food Recognition for Logging Meals

Health2Sync’s AI food recognition feature automatically identifies the types of food in the photo and shows the calories and the amounts of different nutrients, namely carbs, proteins, and fats.

Below is a screenshot of the AI food recognition result. Health2Sync spent over a year building up the database of local food categories, providing a more customized and convenient user experience for each market.

This feature is only available in Taiwan and Japan, but they plan to accumulate enough data to launch it in English-speaking markets. Before expanding to other markets, users can still take photos of their food and log their meals by entering the food manually or selecting from the food database. 

Premium Plan Benefits

The free version includes most of the features, including data logging, trend tracking, and partner support. However, the premium plan, which costs $2.99 monthly, includes:

1. Personalized monthly progress reports: Here, users can summarize their monthly progress and provide data analysis on different health and lifestyle habits.
2. Real-time analysis by Health2Sync chatbot: Users can request real-time analysis of their blood glucose, blood pressure, weight, food, exercise, and medication based on recently logged data to gain perspective on their progress.
3. Unlimited PDF reports: Users can export data as PDFs to share with healthcare providers. All users can export PDF reports thrice, while premium users have unlimited reporting usage.   
4. Exclusive educational content: Premium members can receive articles and guides to help them better understand and execute their diabetes management.
5. Collection of favorite articles: This feature allows users to save monthly reports, real-time analysis, and educational content in the app for easy access. 

Making a Global Difference

Today, the Health2Sync app is available in several Western countries, including Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Korea, and the United States. It’s available in six languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and Korean. The platform is actively promoting its app in English-speaking markets, such as the US, Australia, and the UK.