Dexcom crazy pills

Type 1 and LADA
1

I feel like I am losing my mind. In October I started new insurance policy. As soon as I got my new card, called my insurance to see where and how to fill my proscriptions. I was told for Dexcom, I should go straight to Dexcom.

Late October
Called my Dr, had them send the prescription to Dexcom
Called Dexcom, gave them my new insurance card and my Dr’s info.

Went overseas in November - this was my mistake

December 16: Email from Dexcom said, I am your assigned rep (Joe) I received paperwork from Dr. Call back at this number to confirm. Called back and Joe not available, spoke with another was informed that an insurance review was required, should take 3-4 days.

December 30 received email from Joe at Dexcom, please provide address and what supplies are required. Of course I responded via email immediately. I need sensors and transmitter

January 3,
Called to check status of my order, Joe’s voicemail is full, I cannot even leave a message, spoke with someone in customer service. They say it is the new year another insurance check is required. I lose my temper, demand an escalation. The supervisor puts a rush on the insurance check, and assured me it will only take 24 hours.

January 6, Call and inquire on status, customer service says insurance check not complete. I escalate again.

January 7, Call and inquire on status, customer service says insurance check done, lets process order BUT paperwork in insufficient. She will forward request to Joe, who will contact my DR. Joe with the full voicemail box? I demand details, and was told that my Dr must send a Cert of Medical Necessity because the existing one is expired…

Call my Doctor, they do NOT have such a form, as it is sent by dexcom and typically already completed. I freak out, my transmitter expires next week, I plead and wring my hands. Dr calls local dexcom rep to get form.

Jan 8 Joe calls me and says, we have the paperwork, we will fedex your supplies and transmitter. Sorry for the delay,.

Jan13 -
Called to check status of my order, where is my stuff? Joe said it is coming overnight, that was wednesday! Rep say, order on hold we need the paperwork from your Dr.

My head explodes

I escalate again, sit on hold for 45 minutes to speak to a supervisor. They say they will call me back in 1 hour, that was 2 hours ago.

Wish me luck, I am calling them back

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2

@mindawhen Luck! I wish you lots of it!!

3

I’m so sorry you have had to go through this. Please make sure you document everything, including CSR names, dates and times.

I have a small book so far, but every so often it comes in handy when I begin to get the “runaround”.

I spent about a week without a transmitter or sensors, but Dex finally got it together. Through the end of 2019, the re-ordering was going fairly smoothly. I hope 2020 will bring the same.

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4

My wife has been waiting for a replacement MM pump since sometime in November. First, the person assigned no longer works there but no one contacted my wife. Then the next person in charge of her account keeps saying that the doctor’s orders dont have a signature, so that was taken care of and here we are at least a week later and still no call from CCS Medical (they BLOW) to say the pump is in transit.

5

There has to be a better way. I have been working on a supply order with css for 2 months…still not here. The communication loop is broken and no one speaks the same language. For example : fasting glucose is not the same as glucose fasting. I believe this could be fixed but in the meantime lord help us.

6

Ps- any time someone says it’s on the way ask for the tracking number

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7

Their tech support remains very good, maybe a little off from back when I was on the G5, but their customer base has ballooned since then. Wait times are more of an issue, but I still get terrific service when I get through.

Sales, OTOH, not so much. Ever since they off-shored that operation it has gone to absolute sh**. There are any number of stories like this one, endless promises that don’t mean anything, bleh. But backing up to this:

Is this an absolute? I know—or at least I’ve picked up somewhere—that it’s true for Medicare patients, but a lot of other carriers allow CGM supplies to be categorized as pharmaceuticals not DME, and you can now get them from your local Walgreens. They don’t always have them on hand, but it’s a lot more hassle free. (In my case I use the Walgreens in the Joslin Center, and they stock everything. Lucky me!)

8

Thank you DrBB, I am unsure about what absolute even means. After 40 years of type 1 and countless carriers, the rules constantly change.

As an aside my son takes growth hormone, we spent 9 months to get approval, and when we had to change carriers, I braced for a whole new battle, and it was approved immediately.

gobsmacked

9

I call CCS Med on my wife’s behalf but they won’t discuss her order with me. My wife is nearly given up on getting a pump from those clowns. I just called Medtronic. they are going to intercede.

10

You’ll be okay regardless of the crazy pills. You can reset the start date on your transmitter. You should be roughly able to get another month out of it. No guarantees on how long it’ll last, but hopefully enough to ease the stress.

There are different instructions/app if you’re running an IOS phone versus Android, and also dependent on the version of Dexcom you’re using… I’d recommend googling it. For example “dexcom G6 transmitter reset IOS”.

If you’re on Android, you’ll need the xdrip+ app, which is not available on play store. Download the latest version here: Release Nightly build 9th Jan 2020 · NightscoutFoundation/xDrip · GitHub You’ll have to click on “assets” to expose the three file options, the click on all three to download. You need the APK and source files.

You can also restart your sensors for extra life, but again that’s dependent of what you’re running.

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11

I had the same issue with Dexcom and Insurance companies every time my company changed health plans which was every year. I went online and bought supplies without insurance. That way I never went without. The price was about 27% of what the insurance company states they are charged by Dexcom.

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I’m so sorry you have to put up with this. I had a similar run around ordering a transmitter in November. Constant calls to sales with very polite people who don’t seem to be able to do anything. I wish you luck - if you keep calling you may hit the one rep in a thousand who can and will move everything along.

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13

Hang in there. Your doing the diabetes song and dance with Dexcom, eh?
I’m doing the same dance with the devil.
Crazy rage is the correct emotion here…lol. I’m sorry.

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14

Dave, CCS Medical does indeed stink! I have a long story about pump supplies and them not wanting to provide what my doctor ordered. Long story shorter, I contacted a consumer reporter for WNBC New York who got in touch with CMS who then contacted CCS Medical to remind them of their responsibilities under the Medicare contract. My supplies were then faux cheerily sent to me overnight. You may need to contact CMS if you have Medicare to help remind CMS of their responsibilities.

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15

Thanks, but I just had a convo with my wife moments ago. She is giving up, so I guess I need to put her problems out of my mind. I always try to help her in any way I can with anything that is bothering her, but her attitude has taken a turn towards accepting that the processing of her order will be completed when CCS Med get around to it. I could never handle things that way. :slight_smile: I’d be on them onto I got what I’m entitled to.

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16

My wife has been using CCS for prob 7 years and never one problem

These places are crazy - horrible for some and great for others

go figure

17

Photographic expression of my frustration with back and forth on the phone sometimes!

image
image1451×1297 889 KB

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18

Thanks to all for the commiseration and advice. I finally received my order today! TODAY!! Keep screaming, escalating and keep hope alive!!

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19

You did well! It took us over 4 months early last year and then over 2 months to refill the supply prescription! Dexcom is, in many opinions a poorly run company. Fantastic technology but poorly run. It seems they have a high turnover employment rate, use overseas call centers for most things and the executive staff seems to use the company stock as there personal ATM (unfortunately this is a common practice among corporate execs and not illegal)

I’ve caught staff just outright making up excuses for not having shipped supplies. (we first need authorization from your physician - already had verified that was completed, then they tried to blame the insurance company but I have also verified that they approved the order as well!)

Form your own opinion from you own experiences but this appears to be a bad pattern with Dexcom…

20

This is exactly it! I was baffled by the outright lies I was hearing. For the first time I cannot blame the insurance company, this was 100% Dexcom. So many times i asked the rep, “is this being recorded for quality purposes?” then would outline my issues to that point and give names. It would be foolish for me to think that there is any quality control happening over in customer service.

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