For each person with diabetes, the patient experience differs but it can be arduous, frustrating and depressing. A panel discussion at the MedCity ENGAGE conference this week on challenges patients and providers grapple with and what can be done to address them drew on the perspectives of health IT businesses Omada Health, MySugr and Health2047 as well as the Behavioral Diabetes Institute.

Dr. Jack Stockert of Health2047 noted that care models just don’t fit the problem, partly because the needs to address for patients who are on course to develop Type 2 diabetes differ from those already diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and Type 1 diabetes patients. He observed that most technologies designed to help diabetics manage their condition fall short of the mark because they don’t address the nuances of behavior change and prevention that are critical for people with pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes to better manage their condition. Stockert also noted that digital health tools for diabetes tend to drown users in data or don’t provide enough.

“Where are the business models that reward on outcomes?” Stockert pondered. “We want … a model that focuses on the centrality of the doctor-patient relationship.”