The year in diabetes? We’re good with that

If I could say anything about the year in diabetes & DME, it’s that 2023 was the year the industry rolled up its sleeves and got to work. 

To be precise, the ground was prepped in 2022, with the launch of the AAHomecare Diabetes Council, whose members understood that if the industry wanted to succeed in this space, it needed to get out there and show itself. 

Driving most of the changes: The ongoing boom in continuous glucose monitors, which have had the dual benefit of giving diabetes the proverbial shot in the arm while improving the lives and outcomes of users. Our most-read diabetes story of the year, “Diabetes & CGMs: ‘A rapid-fire changing environment,’” published way back in March, had it all: new HCPCS codes, coverage guidelines and an expansion of the benefit to include Type 2 diabetes patients. 

And it didn’t let up. Suppliers pushed for – and got – clarification from CMS on who is allowed to do follow-up visits with patients, as reported in “CMS responds to pushback on CGMs.” As far as Medicare is concerned, that group still doesn’t include pharmacists and the agency laid that confusion to rest, for now.  

I had no sooner gotten off the phone for that story when CMS announced it would allow for 90-day billing of CGM supplies, you know, like pretty much all other supplies. So, I picked up my phone and hit redial to get feedback on just what this change meant for suppliers in “Billing change better aligns CGM supplies with other supplies.” 

All this CGM excitement has led to strong growth for diabetes companies, including Advanced Diabetes Supply, which made the news when it named Bill Mixon, (yes, the wheelchair guy), as its new CEO. Bill himself admitted, “At first glance, people might say, ‘Wow, that’s different,’” but he’s very excited about his new role and he told us all about it in “ADS gets ‘new eyes and ears’ to reach next phase of growth.” 

As I sat down to write this, I flipped back to my editorial for January of last year, where I wrote about, you guessed it, diabetes. At the time, I was mulling, albeit reluctantly, the possibility of going on an insulin pump. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but for now, I’m good with that.