Over the past year, Bill has worked hard to get control of his Type 2 diabetes. The 68-year-old retired law enforcement officer from Massachusetts has watched what he eats and lost more than 50 pounds. He works in his garden and takes daily walks with his wife, a retired nurse.
Bill tracks his blood sugars every day with the support of Ibis Health, a ground-breaking Medicare covered program that combines personalized support from dedicated Member Advocates along with home monitoring to help members feel their best between doctor visits.
Bill also relies on the use of a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device which allows him to measure his blood sugars without having to resort to painful finger sticks throughout the day. All that hard work paid off when Bill’s A1C lab value went below 7, which typically means reduced risk of complications including organ and tissue damage. Bill’s doctor suggested he could start to reduce his daily insulin medication, and within a few months, Bill was completely insulin free. He was thrilled.
Then the other shoe dropped: Because he had come off insulin, Medicare would no longer pay for the patches that helped him monitor his blood sugar levels. This meant he would have to return to daily finger sticks, which he dreaded and had been a barrier to managing his blood sugars in the past.
“I was like really?? You do the right thing, you take care of your health, you get things under control.” said Bill. “I didn’t have to stop and get an alcohol swab and stick my finger. It was a simplified process.”
That’s when Bill’s Ibis Member Advocate stepped in to help.
After Bill shared his frustration with the situation during their monthly one-on-one support call, his Member Advocate Lynn jumped into action, picking up the phone to make calls and researching ways to get Bill’s CGM patches covered by insurance. She discovered Medicare was in the process of changing its policy, and would soon be covering the patches even for beneficiaries who had come off insulin. She forwarded the information to Bill, who shared it with his doctor. Knowing coverage was coming, his doctor was able to supply Bill with enough samples to bridge the gap until Medicare officially changed its policy, allowing him to continue his progress toward better health uninterrupted.
“She’s been absolutely fantastic, I can’t say enough about her,” Bill said of his Ibis Health Member Advocate Lynn. “I probably would have found out about the policy change eventually, but not as quickly with Lynn doing some research and having somebody find and send it to us. That was great on her part and it was great belonging to Ibis and having her as my advocate to do something like that. … She’s just a wonderful, wonderful person.”
Best of all, Bill says he feels better having control over his disease and being on fewer medications. He recommends Ibis Health to anyone who wants to become more serious about their health.
“The doctor will say ‘I want three blood pressures a day for a week,’ and I don’t have to write them down. Or I don’t have to go back and say ‘Geez, what were they?’ I can go into Ibis, look at my vitals, write them down for the doctor. Or I can take my phone, take a picture of it and send it to her,” Bill said. “It’s a good tool to make life a little simpler health wise. How many times have people said, ‘Oh I don’t know what my blood pressure is?’ or ‘I don’t know what my weight is?’ Well, now you know. It lets you see a progression.”
“And they’re very non-judgmental, and that’s very important to people,” Bill added. “They don’t judge you, they encourage you.”
