Managing diabetes effectively requires patients to actively participate in their own care. Checking blood sugar levels, taking medications correctly, making good dietary choices, and keeping regular appointments with health care providers are all crucial to balancing glucose levels and avoiding serious complications such as cardiovascular and kidney disease.

One tool that is proving helpful to many patients with diabetes is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). A CGM reports blood glucose levels in real time (for example, every five minutes throughout the day), creates an alert if glucose hits a high or a low limit, and provides insight into glucose trends.

A CGM uses a sensor that is placed just under the skin and a transmitter that sends results to a wearable device or cell phone. Health professionals who treat patients with diabetes report three advantages of continuous glucose monitoring when compared to a traditional glucose meter, which reads a drop of blood from a finger prick.

3 Advantages of Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Identifying Glucose Patterns

While a traditional glucose meter measures blood sugar at one point in time, a CGM can show blood sugar readings over time in the form of charts or bar graphs. This can help patients and health care providers identify patterns, such as times of day glucose tends to be high or low. The pattern insights can inform medication choices, dosages, and overall treatment plans.

For example, some diabetes medications target fasting blood sugar levels while others target blood sugar after meals, so a medication choice may depend on blood sugar levels in relation to meals. Patterns can also reveal if patients should snack at a certain time to avoid glucose dipping too low.

Numerical Results of Diet and Exercise Choices

Patients can quickly see how specific foods or different types of exercise impact glucose levels with a CGM.

Continuous glucose monitoring can be really motivating for patients,” says Chelsea Durnil, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacist with True Rx Health Strategists True Outcomes: Diabetes Management Program. “For example, my patients can see how a complex carbohydrate, like a sweet potato, doesn’t spike blood sugar like a simple carbohydrate such as white bread. Or, within an hour of exercise, they can see their blood sugar coming down.”

When patients have the information and motivation to make sustained lifestyle changes, it can lead to needing less medication or even eliminating medications to control glucose levels.

Data for Precise Medication Adjustment

The comprehensive data from continuous glucose monitoring makes it easier for health care providers to titrate insulin or other diabetes medications. Medication titration involves slowly increasing or decreasing a medication dosage to find the ideal balance for a patient. The goal is to find the lowest possible dose that provides maximum effectiveness in controlling glucose with minimal side effects.

Should Employers Cover Continuous Glucose Meters?

While CGM devices are an up-front investment, the fact that they can help patients and providers more closely control glucose over time and identify optimal medications and dosages helps lower drug spending and overall health costs for both employers and employees. Studies show that when glucose is effectively managed, patients reduce risks for cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney disease, and other vascular related complications.

For many patients, having continuous glucose monitoring for just a few months is helpful,” says Durnil. “This can allow patients to make lifestyle adjustments and providers to fine tune medications to create an effective, stable treatment plan. Patients with mealtime insulin or an insulin pump may need to always use CGM. The main guideline is what will produce the best health outcomes for each individual patient.”

Explore Benefits of CGM with a Clinical Diabetes Management Program

True Rx offers True Outcomes: Diabetes Management, a comprehensive, patient-centered diabetes management program designed for employers.

The program is designed to help employees actively manage their diabetes and lower their out-of-pocket health care costs. Participants receive a personalized plan with established goals supported by a comprehensive medication review and holistic guidance on lifestyle and wellness issues.

In addition to the employee benefits, True Outcomes is one of the only diabetes management programs that enables employers to:

Pay only for plan members who actively participate, calculated per patient, per month
Receive regular insights into program outcomes through healthcare data reports, with a focus on measurable results
Provide direct, high-quality care through True Outcomes: Diabetes Management, developed and administered in-house by True Rx clinical pharmacists, ensuring employees receive the highest standards of care without ever being referred to third parties

Employers can choose to provide additional incentives for their employees, including free testing and/or insulin supplies, cover patient co-pays for generic medications, or cover/reduce patient co-pays for brand medications.

With an increasing number of employees diagnosed with diabetes and the rising costs of insulin and GLP-1s, employer benefit plans are facing a growing challenge: how to offer the care employees need while controlling skyrocketing costs,” adds True Rx Health Strategists’ Chief Strategy Officer Adrienne LaBorwit. “The good news is that it can be done with this new comprehensive diabetes program that helps to reduce patient risks of heart disease, stroke, and more while lowering blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels.”

Empower your employes with the tools they need to manage their diabetes effectively and improve overall wellness. Learn how our Diabetes Management Program can help create a healthier, more productive workforce.