ACHP Receives $1.54 Million To Study Continuous Glucose Monitoring
The research grant will examine barriers to access to continuous glucose monitoring, which is widely seen as having advantages over keeping tabs of blood sugar levels with finger pricks,
The Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) has received a $1.54 million grant to improve diabetes outcomes that will focus utilization of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)
"CGM is an incredibly underutilized technology with the potential to improve lives while — we predict ‚ saving our health care system significant financial resources,” said Ceci Connolly, ACHP president and CEO, said in a news release issued yesterday to announce the grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
ACHP is a trade association for nonprofit regional health plans. Its membership includes Geisinger Health, Kaiser Permanente, UPMC Health Plan and Select Health.
The news release says that Increasing access to CGM is critical for health equity in the care of people with diabetes.
The insurance group will partner with HealthPartners Institute’s International Diabetes Center (IDC) to improve diabetes management among individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes covered by regional health plans, says the news release. HealthPartners, a health plan in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, is one of ACHP’s members and the HealthPartners Institute is a research arm of the plan.
CGM involves insertion of a sensor that measure blood glucose levels. The sensor typically sends the information to an app on a cellphone. CGM is often held up as being preferable to measuring blood sugar in small blood samples collected by finger pricks.
The news release says that clinical trials and real-world data have shown the shown the benefits of CGM for people with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
“Everyday, we’re learning more about how CGM can help guide personalized and effective diabetes management,” said Richard Bergenstal, MD, executive director of IDC. “We are very excited to partner with ACHP’s unique provider-aligned plans to ensure access to CGM for all who stand to benefit from this technology which has the potential to transform diabetes care and improve health outcomes."
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