I have some more thoughts on my earlier Dexcom and Medtronic continuous glucose monitor comparison (CGM) that I did not mention yesterday.
CGM Notifications
The Medtronic 530G can send notifications from the Minimed Connect CGM application to you via text message. They are fairly useless alerts. They simply say “High SG, CHECK BG.”
For a text message notification to be useful, I would at least expect it to tell me the value of the reading. It also will send a new notification every 30 minutes or so, which is an annoyance. If I treated the high, it will take time for my blood glucose to go down. If I do not treat it, I am at least aware of it. Let me set how often I get the notifications, please.
For me, because I set my high level to 140, I get these notifications quite often. Every one of them comes from a different phone number, so I cannot set the name for the number to something like “Medtronic CGM Notification.”
I know the Dexcom G5 Continuous Glucose Monitor can send you text notifications, but I am not aware of how useful they are since I have never used the G5.
CGM on Apple Watch
Another annoyance for the Medtronic CGM is that they have no Apple Watch app
for their Connect application. That would be handy, too. Dexcom does have an Apple Watch complication on the G4 with Share, and on the G5 CGM. I use my Apple Watch for discrete information many times a day, and would appreciate this ability.
Insurance and CGM
Another plus for Medtronic is that most insurance companies cover the devices. Many do not, or are dropping support for, Dexcom. The problem for users of the Dexcom is that they may have the unit and no longer be able to get sensors and transmitters without paying out-of-pocket. If an insurance company drops Dexcom support shortly after getting the device, I question if they would pay for a replacement Medtronic device, or if they would take the stance that you just got a new CGM device, so you do not need another.
Just something to think about…
