Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Systems: Leveraging Everyday Tech to Enhance Diabetes Management

March 16th, 2022 - Susan Gatehouse, RHIT, CCS,CPC, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer

Categories: Audits/Auditing

However, is the coding for the treatment and management of diabetes being adequately captured?

Diabetes mellitus (DM) affects over 400 million people worldwide. It is a chronic disease of inadequate control of blood levels of glucose that affects the body’s ability to turn food into energy.

Essentially, the food you eat is broken down into sugar (glucose) and released into the blood to be used as the body’s primary energy source. This increase in blood sugar causes the pancreas to release insulin, a hormone that acts like a key to enable the glucose to enter the body’s cells so it can be leveraged.

Lack of insulin or the inability of glucose to enter cells causes sugar to build up in the blood, which, over time, can lead to complications.

Diabetes has many subclassifications, but the two main types of DM are type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes (previously called insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes) is typically diagnosed in children or younger adults, though it can develop at any age. With type 2 diabetes, patients’ problems begin when the cells in their body start to not respond to insulin as well as they should. This is called insulin resistance, which causes high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia). This is the most common type of diabetes.

As noted, people with diabetes have trouble regulating glucose. Regularly checking blood glucose levels is important. Maintaining those levels within a target range helps improve energy and mood while preventing or delaying severe health complications.

Patients with diabetes have to undergo fingers pricked with lancets to test blood sugar several times a day. These needle pricks can be painful, often resulting in less frequent testing. Out-of-control blood sugars can occur with less testing, resulting in increased hospital admissions and decreased health outcomes.

A continuous glucose monitoring system (CGM) is a compact medical system that continuously monitors blood sugar levels, essentially in real time. CGM systems enable patients with diabetes to manage their condition better. There have been tremendous technological advances made in glucose monitoring systems, representing perhaps the most significant progress made in controlling diabetes since insulin was discovered!

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Read the entire article at ICD10monitor by clicking here.

This article originally published on March 7, 2022 by ICD10monitor.

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