Medicare, telemedicine to affect testing supplies sales

There are two issues concerning the business of diabetes monitoring that are playing out right now, one a little more immediate. 


As soon as 2013, when Medicare’s competitive bidding of durable medical equipment — which includes diabetes testing supplies — as it relates to mail order goes into effect, many pharmacies may be precluded from delivering diabetes test supplies to their patients. Currently 45% of community pharmacies deliver diabetes supplies to assisted living facilities, according to the National Community 
Pharmacists Association. 


Sales of lancets and devices across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart) totaled $17.2 million for the 52 weeks ended Aug. 12, up 3.1%, according to SymphonyIRI group data. 


The second issue: losing the care opportunity of that diabetes patient as telemedicine opportunities develop. Nipro and NextGen Healthcare Information Systems recently partnered on a connectivity agreement that enables users of the NextGen Ambulatory EHR instant access to data points captured by patients at home who are 
using the Nipro TRUEresult blood-glucose monitoring system. 


Right now it’s more push than pull, however, as caregivers only access the data during a consult as opposed to remote patient monitoring.

The article above is part of the DSN Category Review Series. For the complete Diabetes Buy-In Report, including extensive charts, data and more analysis, click here.