Remote Temperature Monitoring of the Diabetic Foot: From Research to Practice

Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention

Given the dramatic impact of diabetic foot complications to the veteran and the US health care system, the VHA has long recognized the importance of preventive care for those at risk. In 2017 US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense issued a clinical practice guideline for the management of T2DM that recommended prophylactic foot care for early identification of any deformity or skin breakdown.¹⁰ The guidelines note that a “person who has had a foot ulcer is at lifelong risk of further ulceration,” reflecting the high rate of recurrence among all patients, including veterans. Multiple studies suggest that as many as 40% of patients experience recidivism in the first year after healing from a wound.^11-16

The VA is well equipped to deliver quality preventive care because of its innovative and long-standing PAVE (Prevention of Amputations for Veterans Everywhere) program.¹⁷ PAVE provides screening, education, appropriate footwear, and stratified care guidelines for veterans at risk for diabetes-related foot complications (Table 1). The practices encouraged by PAVE are evidence-based and synergistic with the objectives of the VA’s patient aligned care team (PACT) delivery approach.¹⁸ The granular data collected through PAVE are used to guide best practices and provide benchmarks for diabetic foot outcomes.

Unfortunately, despite PAVE guidelines requiring annual specialist foot care for at-risk veterans, a 2013 report by the VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that one-third of all patients had no documentation of this minimal requirement of preventive foot care.¹⁹ Although the VA has worked to address this issue, the data hint at the missed opportunities for prevention of complications and the challenges of ensuring that a large at-risk veteran population has systematic and routine screening with access to specialist foot care.

Given the large proportion of veterans at high risk of chronic wound formation and the challenges of ensuring that this cohort receives good preventive foot care, expanding telemedicine has been suggested. Telemedicine solutions have the potential to reduce the impact of chronic wounds on overburdened clinic resources, schedules, and local and federal budgets.²⁰ Interestingly, the only preventive practice for the diabetic foot that has been proven effective through multiple randomized controlled trials and national and international clinical guidance documents is once-daily foot temperature monitoring.^21-26 Daily monitoring has the potential to reduce the burden of DFUs to veterans, improve veteran access to needed preventive care, and reduce costs incurred by the VHA treating diabetic foot complications. Yet despite a recent national guidance document detailing its appropriate use in PAVE 3 veterans, it remains underutilized.²⁷

The purpose of this review is to: (1) discuss the evidence supporting once-daily remote temperature monitoring (RTM), a telemedicine approach critical to improving both veteran access to care and diabetic foot outcomes; (2) summarize a 2017 study that presented an advanced clinical understanding of RTM use among veterans; (3) provide previously unpublished data from this study comparing high-risk VA and non-VA cohorts, highlighting the opportunity for additional focus on foot ulcer prevention within the VA; and (4) report on recent VA utilization of a RTM technology based on this research, emphasizing lessons learned and best practices.