Background: Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) have been shown to improve outcomes for patients with T1D. However, various obstacles prevent some patient groups from utilizing these technologies. This was evident by the discrepancy in non-Hispanic black patients using CGMs (25%) vs non-Hispanic white patients (60%) in our clinic. Our goal is to identify and overcome these obstacles in order to increase the number of patients using CGMs and create equity in CGM use between groups.
Methods: An initial barrier for many patients is getting CGM approved by insurance. In response we created a “CGM champion”, a member of the team who created a streamlined process for initiating CGMs. She was able to build relationships with DME companies and provide appropriate information to insurance companies to make the process more efficient. We also created patient education folders with up-to-date information for our families. We worked with staff to increase CGM knowledge, and utilized EMR functionality to make sure all orders were entered, trackable, and documented in a standardized fashion. Finally, we used surveys to gauge the interest of each patient in trying CGMs and other technology.
Results: As of December 2022, we have helped 54% of our interested patients navigate the process of obtaining a CGM. Equity was also improved, with ~65% of our non-Hispanic black patients now using CGM vs ~80% of non-Hispanic white patients.
Conclusions: We have seen improvement in both the total number of patients which are utilizing CGMs as well as equity between patient groups. We are continuing to adjust our processes in an effort to make CGMs more accessible and equitable.
J.Turner: None. G.Nelson: None. B.V.Adams: None.
