JDRF CGM Coverage Campaign

[Aaron Kowalski]

Good News on Coverage for Continuous Glucose Monitors

Hi Everyone,

My name is Aaron Kowalski and I'm a scientist at the JDRF. I head up the research component of the JDRF Artificial Pancreas Project. One of my brothers and I have type 1 (diagnosed at 3 and 13 respectively). I pump - he's MDI - and we both use CGM and love it. Access to CGM is a critical first step towards the development of an artificial pancreas and is a major focus for the JDRF. As most of you know, recently JDRF funded a large study of CGM that aimed to see if people who used CGM would achieve better glycemic control. The first results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine this past October and showed that CGM use was strongly associated with reduction of A1c with no increase in hypoglycemia.

Recently, we got the good news that United Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest health plans, has at JDRF’s urging put out a great new CGM coverage policy, joining national plans such as Aetna and Kaiser Permanente who have established positive new coverage policies since this fall’s release of results from the JDRF funded CGM clinical trial.

There’s still more to do, which is why we are leading a campaign to encourage health plans to cover continuous glucose monitors (CGM). As an organization founded by patients, JDRF knows that effective new therapies do no good unless they reach the patients themselves. And although CGMs have helped thousands of people more effectively manage their diabetes thus far, we need all hands to help make this life-changing technology available to many more.

I want to invite you to join JDRF’s CGM Coverage Campaign and help make this technology affordable for everyone. Since health plans are most likely to make coverage changes only after hearing directly from their beneficiaries, the first step you can take to support this campaign is to simply provide your contact information as well as your health care provider. By joining our CGM Coverage Campaign, you will receive timely information on campaign progress, as well as additional ways you can help to make this revolutionary technology available for everyone.

You can find out more about CGM coverage at www.jdrf.org/cgmcoverage. If you have questions, feel free to contact the JDRF team at cgmcoverage@jdrf.org or me at akowalski@jdrf.org

Thanks everyone!!

Aaron