Search Results for: catherine price

7 Ways to Cope with Diabetes Burnout

I’ve been feeling burnt out about work, and so I recently forced myself to spend a weekend untethered from my phone, not checking email, and not responding to calls. The two days felt longer than normal, I didn’t miss anything important, and I emerged on Monday morning refreshed – so...

DBlog Week: Change the World!

It’s day one of the 5th annual Diabetes Blog week (organized by the amazing Karen Graffeo at Bittersweet Diabetes), and today’s topic is “Change the World.” The assignment? “Let’s kick off Diabetes Blog Week by talking about the diabetes causes and issues that really get us fired up. Are you...

The Problem With Generic Test Strips

...myself, “Hey, Catherine. Maybe it’s not such a big deal!” something always seems to come up to snap me out of my reverie. An example of this happened just yesterday, when I received a safety notice from the FDA about Shasta Technologies’ GenStrip Blood Glucose Test Strips. (The company previously...

How the New York Times Could – And Should – Use Engaged Patients to Revolutionize Medical Reporting

As I have written about previously on ASweetLife, I – like many other people with diabetes – was disappointed by the factual inaccuracies and misapprehensions in the New York Times’ recent piece, titled “Even Small Medical Advances Can Mean Big Jumps in Bills,” on the high cost of devices and...

Arizona Reinstates Medicaid Insulin Pump Coverage: A Triumph in Patient Advocacy!

Great news: the Arizona State Legislature has approved the restoration of insulin pump coverage for adults in the state’s Medicaid program (known as AHCCCS)! This is partially thanks to an enormous patient-led Twitter campaign over the past few weeks to educate and encourage Arizona state politicians, and I couldn’t be...

The Cost of Staying Alive with Diabetes: A Response to the New York Times

...healthy life in spite of my disease. I would have asked that the article better address why Catherine Haley, the woman with Type 1 diabetes whose story is featured in the piece, would bother to save up for an insulin pump – which she describes as being the most expensive...

FDA and Patient Live Chat: The Recap

As I mentioned earlier, today marks a huge day in the diabetes community’s collaboration with the FDA, the government agency in charge of regulating America’s drugs and medical devices: Courtney Lias, the director of the division at the FDA that regulates blood glucose meters, insulin pumps, continuous blood glucose meters...

Diabetes and the FDA: A First-Ever Live Chat

Ain’t no party like an FDA party. I’m being serious. This Monday, March 31st, the FDA’s Courtney Lias and StripSafely.com‘s Bennet Dunlap will be hosting a live chat about blood glucose meters — and you’re invited. Lias is the director of the division of toxicology and medical devices at the...

Stop Competitive Bidding for Insulin Pumps

UPDATE: When this article was published, there were approximately 30 public comments about competitive bidding on the CMS website. (The CMS document was about all sorts of durable medical equipment, not just insulin pumps.) As of today, there are 179 public comments on the CMS docket — and *at least*...

UPDATE: Please Help Arizona’s Legislature Protect Poor People With Diabetes

...— complications from diabetes. Providing insulin pump coverage to Arizona’s adult Medicaid recipients would cost about $105,000 per year, roughly the price of six total emergency room visits. At the moment AZ is the only state besides Alabama not to provide this coverage. Will you join your house colleagues in...