6894 Disparities in Continuous Glucose Monitor Utilization and Real-Time Remote Sharing in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Treated with Insulin on Medicare
Authors: Flint K L , Ting T , Rivera K , Tamang P , Colling C A , Li J H , Putman M S 
Published: October 2024

Disclosure: K.L. Flint: None. T. Ting: None. K. Rivera: None. P. Tamang: None. C.A. Colling: None. J.H. Li: None. M.S. Putman: Consulting Fee; Self; Synspira Therapeutics. Research Investigator; Self; Dexcom. Other; Self; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated.

Introduction: Continuous glucose monitors (CGM) are FDA-approved for the management of diabetes and have been shown to improve glycemic control. For optimal utilization, CGM can be connected to cloud-based clinic portals for real-time sharing of glycemic data with clinicians to guide clinical care. Although studies have previously identified disparities in access to CGM for patients who receive Medicare, limited data are available examining disparities in CGM utilization and data sharing. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that racial and socioeconomic disparities in CGM access exist both in utilization and in real-time remote sharing of CGM data. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study examining patients with type 2 diabetes on insulin using Medicare as primary or secondary insurance in a single diabetes clinic affiliated with a tertiary care medical center. Clinical data extracted from the electronic health record (EHR) included age, self-reported race and ethnicity, sex, preferred language, education level, ZIP code-based median household income, and enrollment in the EHR-patient portal. The most recent diabetes clinic note for each patient as of October 2023 was reviewed to assess whether each patient was using CGM at the time of the visit. The clinic’s CGM portal accounts were reviewed to assess whether the patient was connected to and actively sharing CGM data with the clinic. Two sample t-tests and chi-square tests were used to evaluate continuous and categorical predictors of CGM use and real-time remote sharing, respectively. Results: Of the 847 patients who qualified for inclusion, 420 (49.6%) were using CGM and 213 (25.1%) were sharing CGM data in real-time. Compared to patients not using CGM (n=427), patients using CGM were younger (70.8 years vs 73.5 years, p&lt;0.001) and more often enrolled in the EHR-based patient portal (91.9% vs 84.1%, p&lt;0.001); however, there were no differences in racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic factors between the groups (p&gt;0.05 for all). Of the patients using CGM, remote sharing of data was associated with younger age (69.5 years vs 72.3 years, p&lt;0.01), identifying as White (74.2% vs 65.0%, p=0.04), using English as preferred language (92.5% vs 84.2%, p=0.02), higher levels of education (p=0.01), and using the EHR-based patient portal (97.2% vs 86.7%, p&lt;0.001). Conclusions: In this cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes on insulin receiving Medicare, there were no significant socioeconomic disparities in CGM utilization. However, racial and socioeconomic disparities were pronounced in real-time remote sharing of CGM data, suggesting that patients from minoritized racial backgrounds, patients who do not use English as their preferred language, and patients with less education may benefit from additional support and training to connect and share their CGM with their providers.

Presentation: 6/2/2024