@tedos, Dexcom G6 and basal IQ are now finally approved in Australia (as of March this year) and AMSL are currently rolling out training in both to DEs. It isn’t listed on NDSS yet, but the expectation is that it will be available very soon. Control-IQ isn’t yet approved in Australia, and any date for approval would be a guess - it could be any time from ‘later this year’ to ‘never’, though (as a T-slim user) I hope it’s the former.
As far as available pumps, there are more than just Medtronic and Tandem, though they are the only ones that integrate with CGM out of the box.
I highly recommend you visit David Burren’s site bionicwookie.com which has an excellent overview of the Australian situation, including available pumps and CGM and closed-loop options.
FWIW, saying “the sensors don’t work for me” based on experience of older generation Medtronic CGM only is verging on wilful ignorance. Dexcom is almost universally recognised as working better for most people, requiring less frequent calibrations, and giving accurate readings for much longer. Most people can extend sensors beyond the first week, and AMSL replace any sensors that don’t last 7 days under warranty. My son usually gets around 10 days or more, but his record is 35 days on a single sensor. You can do the maths on how much that reduces the cost.
This seems to be very much the case in Australia also. Medtronic have historically had a large majority of market share here, and in many areas Medtronic are the only company who have a sales rep, so it follows naturally they are the pumps that DEs are familiar and comfortable with. DEs may have heard of the other available pumps, but when we asked about them the answer we got was “they look good on paper but we’ve never seen one or talked to someone who uses it, don’t know how reliable they are, and don’t know what their support is like” - meanwhile they do multiple pump starts every week on Medtronic with the local rep in attendance to do training. Tandem have finally broken through that barrier last year, but Dana wouldn’t even sell me a pump when I contacted them directly because they have no rep in my state!
Yes thanks for that. I recently (like 3 days ago) stumbled across David’s site and it is there I found out that apidra the insulin im using is not compatible .
I’m hoping to give Dexcom a try if I do end up going Tslim. But judging from what I have been reading on the internet, the chances of the Medtronic latest version sensor working for me is slim based on my experience with their last two versions if it’s the same hardware design (which I believe it is), I have very little chance.
Dexcom seems to be the more viable option.
I do wonder why they don’t just roll out control IQ. And have to do it in baby steps. The rest of the world is already on it😒.
Oh is that right? No wonder, there is always a sales rep present when I did my on boarding of my previous two Medtronic pumps and then also sales rep contacting me to upgrade my pump. But I hear nothing from tandem. They haven’t even responded to my questions to their pump😅.
I asked the DE whether I need to contact tandem for the pump onboarding to arrange for someone to be present on the day and she was like nope.
Australia has very stringent requirements for medical device approvals. When you’re waiting for a device that’s approved elsewhere that other people seem to be doing well on, it’s a frustrating wait, but the process does stop a lot of ineffective (or effective, but not cost-effective) devices being registered and sold. For instance, there have been alternative CGM devices sold in Europe that simply would never meet the requirements to be sold here because they aren’t accurate or reliable enough.
On the ‘cost effective’ front, there are devices that could be approved on a technical basis, but wouldn’t be listed on the prosthesis list because they aren’t cost effective (or don’t fit in the way devices are typically funded, e.g. Omnipod). The government sets the maximum reimbursable price through the prosthesis list. If the company doesn’t want to sell for that price, the device isn’t listed, and companies choose never to put them through Australian certification to start with.
It may be frustrating, but it’s part of the price of taxpayer funded healthcare that governments won’t fund things that aren’t cost effective. Even though the majority of pumps are funded through “private” health insurance, don’t forget that the government also subsidises that for most people through a tax rebate on fees, plus MBS payments to doctors and private hospitals for procedures.
Medtronics’ big selling point is integration of pump and CGMS, along with automated control. The sensor component is really weak (to put it politely) and as the saying goes “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”.
The 120 target BG for the 670G is another deal breaker with me, along with the 670G cutting off basal when I prebolus. So I am using Dexcom G6 and Medtronic 670G. To mention, my night time basal ranges from 0.05 to 0.125 units/hr, so shutting off basal won’t prevent or correct a low.
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