March 25, 2014

What's Missing from HHS Report on Test Strip Costs


A report, just out this month, by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General looks at Medicaid costs for diabetic test strips. My search tool couldn't find in it the following words:

 Hypoglycemia, Hyperglycemia, Accurate, Safe


Have a look. It is here. Let me know if I am wrong. (they do say diabetic but not diabetes.) It seems they are missing the real point. Feel free to list any other key words NOT in the report in a comment below. 

I am 100% for saving money. 

To me saving is all about getting the right things at the right prices. Test strips exist so people with Diabetes can manage blood sugar in a safe, target range, minimizing Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia. To do that test strips need to be Accurate within the standards for which they were approved. Not all strips preform as approved and there is evidence that suggests some may achieve low prices by failing on quality. 


The cost of diabetes care is not test strips. As Bill Polonsky says, "Well controlled diabetes is the leading cause of nothing." On the other hand, insulin overdose is estimated to puts 97,000 plus Americans in the Emergency Room every year (more than Meth!) at a cost of well over a half a billion dollars. Estimates including the cost of diabetes complications are in the range into hundreds of billions.


To me, the Inspector General's report is the wrong track.  It is penny wise and pound foolish. I suggest that the best thing to do, to save money in diabetes care, is avoiding the big costs of complications by investing in cheap stuff, like accurate strips with the education and support necessary to use them effectively. Sadly I can't think of much that can be done right now about the Inspector General or Medicaid. They take the position that FDA regulates meters and all FDA approved meters are created equal. 


We can do something about test strips, right now. We can comment to FDA's open dockets on new test strip guidance. They are open to April 7, 2014. We can talk about the importance of accuracy, post market evaluations, that only meter meeting new and safe guidelines should be approved to dose insulin and more. To make it easy there are copy and paste comments with a link to the FDA dockets here:






http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51300033.pdf 

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