The Web portal Yahoo!, together with the medical software company iMetrikus, offers the Medicompass system on its health page. The site allows users to upload their glucose readings (either manually or through a device sold by iMetrikus) along with other information like exercise and eating habits, responding with graphs and other ways to monitor a patient’s health status over time. Users can allow family members and physicians to access the information as well.

Medem, an Internet physician-patient communications company backed by the American Medical Association and others, has launched a similar service, where patients upload their blood-glucose readings to a secure server where they can be accessed by their doctors. And WebMD will soon offer its own online diabetes monitoring service, and possibly other self-management tools. All three companies will offer the services for a small fee.

In a Sept. 9 Wall Street Journal article, American Diabetes Association vice president Robert Rizza said that it will be important to monitor the effectiveness of the new programs in managing the disease, since “blood glucose is only a small part of caring for diabetes.”