Health in Focus: Susan's story
Delivering the right insights at critical moments
- It was one thing I knew for sure. Always wanted to be a mother. We had tried IVF five times. The last one we had, we were at an ultrasound and found out there was no heart beat. And that just, that nearly broke me. We both grieved for the family that we thought we were never, ever going to have. We actually almost gave up. And we figured, "We're not done yet, let's try one more time." When we went in for the ultrasound, I was holding my breath, there were two embryos. "Please be a heart beat. Please let there be a heart beat." And then we heard the two heart beats.
- Susan came to us. Over age 35. She also had pre-existing diabetes. Elevated sugar and poor sugar control kills unborn babies. A delay can literally be the difference between life and death. It was critical to get Optum on board.
- Our goals is to get the patient's blood sugars into range. And the best way to do that is an insulin pump.
- Once we talked to Optum, there really was the easiest way to proceed with everything.
- [Cathy] Once the information is populated into the patient's chart, it's easy to see where you need to make the adjustment.
- I can put in an order for Optum through my EMR and the next day, I'm getting data back from Optum of blood sugar control. The log of the patient's sugars, graphs of where the sugars are at, so if I don't wanna look at numbers, I can actually look at a picture. And then they let me know any medication alterations that have occurred.
- OptumIQ is how we put our data and analytics and expertise to work. Our dashboard consolidates all the information in one place.
- My doctor was getting reports from Optum. When I went for my checkups, I would walk in and she'd say, "Things look great, keep going."
- Optum is the strategic partner that I need to provide patients the best possible care. The reason why I went into medicine was to make people empowered to reach their dreams.
- [Susan] The day we delivered, and the doctors put them on my chest, it was the very best feeling in the world. We got the family we always dreamed of with the best team of people that I could've imagined.
Data and analytics help one woman realize her dream of having a family
The decision to have children can be accompanied by equal parts excitement and anxiety. Too often, couples who want to become parents experience the heartbreak of an unsuccessful pregnancy. Susan and her husband had already tried in vitro fertilization (IVF) five times before becoming pregnant with twins.
Susan has Type 2 diabetes. The complications from uncontrolled blood sugar could have derailed her hopes for a family once more. But when care teams get access to regular insights about their patients’ responses to insulin and their very specific insulin needs, they can drive optimal interventions.
Cathy, an Optum OB Homecare specialized diabetes nurse, partnered with Susan's doctor to regularly deliver these needed insights along with education and frequent communication throughout her pregnancy.
The result — the right data and analytics enabled ongoing monitoring to help Susan keep her diabetes under control and deliver healthy twins without complications.