Report: Standards for glucose monitors may change

NEW YORK The name of the game in diabetes management is compliance. For patients and their healthcare advocates/practitioners, compliance translates into better health outcomes that will prove to be considerably less costly over the life of the patient. And for retailers and blood-glucose meter manufacturers, compliance translates into a high-frequency/high-marketbasket consumer as compared with the average pharmacy patron.

So an article in The New York Times questioning the validity of meters sold in the United States could be cause for considerable concern — if American diabetics have less faith in the accuracy of their meters, then they’re likely to be less compliant in testing. And diabetics who don’t have their blood-sugar levels in check would mean poorer health, higher healthcare costs, a decline in pharmacy trips and the loss of that highly-coveted diabetes consumer.

As expressed in the Times report, creating a lack of faith in meter results by questioning meter efficacy is what the agency is attempting to avoid.