Medicare expands coverage of continuous glucose monitoring devices for diabetes

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finalized a rule to expand Medicare coverage to include continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices that are not approved for making treatment decisions.

Proposed in November 2020, the final CMS rule applies primarily to CGMs that integrate with Medtronic insulin pumps. Those CGMs have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to replace the need for fingerstick blood glucose measurements in determining insulin or other glucose-lowering medication dosing.

Other CGM systems, Dexcom G6 and Abbott Libre, have “therapeutic” indications and were already covered under Medicare, as was the combined insulin pump–CGM Tandem Diabetes Care Control-IQ technology system.

The expanded coverage means that people using the Medtronic 770G or 630G hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery systems will receive coverage for all the systems’ components, and that people aging into Medicare won’t lose any coverage for those devices.

Medtronic will continue to offer its CGM Access Discount to all Medicare customers until the ruling takes effect. The proposed rule was finalized on Dec. 21, 2021, and will be effective starting 60 days after official publication.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.