Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Medtronic Expand Collaboration to Drive Positive Diabetes Outcomes

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) October 29, 2020 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota today announced a new outcomes-based agreement with Medtronic that expands upon the organizations’ ongoing efforts to improve clinical outcomes for people living with type 1 diabetes. This new agreement provides Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota members who live with diabetes improved access to the new MiniMed^TM 770G insulin pump system and the MiniMed^TM 670G insulin pump system. Both systems will now be made available through a member’s pharmacy benefit¹, improving speed of delivery and potentially lowering costs for members to a $50 copay to obtain the technology.

This first-of-its-kind agreement uses the amount of time Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota members spend in the recommended glucose range as a key metric – commonly called “Time in Range”. Medtronic will repay Blue Cross a portion of its reimbursement for the MiniMed^TM 670G system and MiniMed^TM 770G systems if certain levels of Time in Range are not achieved by members using these insulin pump systems that automate and personalize the delivery of basal insulin 24 hours a day.

“Our collaboration with Medtronic illustrates how a health insurer and medical device company can work together to improve diabetes care,” said Mark Steffen, chief medical officer at Blue Cross. “By expanding the value-based programs we have available, Blue Cross is creating a better experience for our members by making it easier to access diabetes technology from Medtronic through the pharmacy benefit and creating incentives that focus on clinical outcomes which ultimately helps people better manage diabetes. In my 22 years living with diabetes, my glucose has never been this consistent and controlled.”

Barb Dale, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota member says, “While I’ve been using a Medtronic insulin pump for many years, I was hesitant to upgrade to the latest technology until I learned that my insurance had this program in place which made the new system easily accessible. Within just a few weeks of being on the MiniMed 670G system, I’m already seeing that my glucose control is vastly improved, and I really appreciate the graphs which illustrate how much time I’m spending in the target glucose range.”

This agreement builds upon the 2019 agreement that focused on the Guardian^TM Connect CGM system which also used time in range as a key metric and made the technology available as a pharmacy benefit to improve access and reduce wait times for the device.

Time in Range refers to the percentage of time people with diabetes spend in the optimal glycemic range of 70-180 mg/dL (3.9-10 mmol/L). The goal with diabetes management is to increase time spent in this target range and to minimize high and low sugar levels, which can lead to both immediate and long-term complications such as damage to blood vessels — increasing the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Damage to blood vessels can also lead to loss of vision, kidney disease and nerve damage.