That is 100% correct.
The G5 transmitter only has enough Bluetooth channels for 1 receiver, either the X2 or the Dex and a smartphone. You have to shutdown the Dex receiver if you’re using it, before you pair the X2 with the G5. Otherwise, the X2 will not connect to the transmitter. Tandem was aware of this before they released the update and should have made this process a little more clearer to their patients.
This is not what Tandem tech care is telling their patients. Considering that nobody has been able to pair both devices at the same time, I would believe that Tandem is correct.
I completely agree. One camp is saying it can be done but offering no solution to fix the problem, while the other side is saying no it is not possible and offering a procedure to get their product up and running correctly. I did not call Dexcom last night when I ran into this because I thought this is a Tandem issue and not a Dex problem. My limited information comes directly from what I was told by Tandem’s technical support.
My only gripe is actually pretty small.
How come, when I bolus, I still have to enter my BG?
I would think that it would populate this based on the CGM, but still give me an override.
Because Medtronic holds the patent on this feature
1 Like
Well, I wonder how that will play into the game when it does it’s own bolus calculations in the future?
Maybe it only applies to the manual boluses.
Either way, it will be some time before Tandem gets to that point of reality.
My response was a snarky jab at Medtronic. I have know idea if what I said is true or not. They do hold a majority of the insulin pump patents, I’m most likely not far off base. I did just get off the phone with Dexcom tech support. I was told that Tandem is absolutely correct in what they’re telling their patients in regards to the X2 and receiver not working together. It’s either one or the other and an optional smartphone.
I’m the least technical person, it sounds stupider every time I get an explanation. I did speak with both companies tech support departments and specifically asked about running both at the same time. I was told by Dexcom, that Tandem is giving the correct info to their patients. Who knows at this point
I’m struggling to understand why it matters if the receiver works or not? If it’s on the pump and on the phone, what’s the purpose of the receiver? I know as soon as I got Dexcom on my phone I dumped the receiver.
Reasonable question. Dexcom Support also asked. I wanted to be sure they understood this is not simply an academic question nor am I merely trying to find a hole in the system.
Everybody uses the system differently.
For a parent, the alarms on the pump are not helpful. Unless I switch back to the old baby monitor that I used to use with the Dex 7. The Smart Phone transmitting through the Dex App and onto the Dex Follow App to a bed-side Android Tablet is nice - that helps. But there are so many links and moving parts in the data transmission that I am not willing to trust this for overnights. I will gladly use it as a secondary alarm source but not the primary. The Dexcom Receiver can be placed in the parent’s bedroom against an adjoining wall to a child’s bedroom and reliably pick up the transmitter from the child and have loud alarms in the room with the parent at nighttime.
As well, when driving in the car, the receiver can easily be glanced at while driving to see the BG of the child. Obviously the parent can not look at the pump so that is out. Looking at a smart device while driving is a safety hazard. The benefit of the receiver is it can be picked up and the button pressed without looking at it. A 1/2 second glance at the Dex Receiver then shows both BG and graph for direction. If not good, we can pull to the side of the road, make any correction necessary and get back to driving.
Neither Dexcom nor Tandem stated in advance that Dexcom Receiver functionality would be compromised with the Tandem X2/G5 integration update. As far as I know, neither company has made public statements to that effect either. Absent such, I fully expect the technology to continue working. As the manufacturer of the Transmitter and the Receiver, I am placing the onus on Dexcom. I do expect them to arrive at a solution and make this work.
Dexcom Technical Support told me this works (Tandem t:slim X2 pump, Dexcom G5 Receiver and Smart Phone all simultaneously paired to a Dexcom G5 transmitter). They have also told me they are working on a solution that will rectify the problem I am having in not being able to get this to work. They have not let me down to date and I am optimistically expecting them to once again deliver a proper solution.
1 Like
I know xdrip also causes the Dexcom receiver to not work as well. I wonder if it has to do with how they are integrating 3rd party tools to the transmitter?
I have also wondered about the xdrip. However I do not use it and have not been able to get a technical answer as to the reason for the difficulties with the receiver. I doubt the xdrip and the X2 are actually encountering the same issue however. As far as I understand, the receiver WILL pair with the transmitter while an xdrip app is also paired however there are “problems” (after pairing) although I am unclear on what that means exactly.
The difference with the X2 is that the receiver will not pair with the transmitter once the X2 is paired with it. At least that is the symptom that I see.
Fair question. Say you are one of the people on Medicare who are absolutely forbade from using a smartphone as a receiver. Now, you can integrate the G5 with the X2, but will lose all access to Dexcom clarity because you can’t use the Dexcom receiver and pump at the same time. Nothing is black and white with this stuff. One product not working as it should, throws everything else off.
That sucks. What’s the point of integration if you lose your reports? I always thought that was one of the primary reasons for integration was having both CGM and pump information integrated into reports. Not having that would be a major turn off for me.
Not having clarity at all would be a big negative for me. My phone uploads this part for now.
Also, the tandem reports now have a cgm report in addition to the bg reports. No where near clarity though.
Maybe, with forward thinking, there will either be a new report where tandem and Dexcom corroborate. Or maybe just an app that will send data to Dexcom.
For those on Medicare though, this really takes away a huge benefit that can be had from clarity.
1 Like
There are discussions going on with CMS regarding the smartphone ban and a significant amount of lobbying. I am optimistic that the policy will be changed but can’t even guess at a timeline for that change.
My understanding is that I will be able to use my X2 as a receiver because it is DME and is not a smartphone or tablet. The Noridian document about coverage states: “Coverage of the CGM system supply allowance is limited to those therapeutic CGM systems where the beneficiary ONLY uses a receiver classified as DME to display glucose data. If a beneficiary uses a non-DME device (smart phone, tablet, etc.) as the display device, either separately or in combination with a receiver classified as DME, the supply allowance is non-covered by Medicare.”
Although I am on Medicare I am still using Dexcom supplies purchased prior to Medicare and thus am not yet affected by these Medicare rules. I am however waiting to receive my notice from Tandem to add the Dexcom G5 update. Because it is a software update and not a hardware upgrade, I have been told that Medicare beneficiaries are eligible for the update and I think some Medicare people have gotten their upgrade code.
For a while I was losing sleep thinking about the Medicare restrictions, but now I am just happily using my pre-Medicare supplies and will worry about the future when it comes. I’ve been in contact with someone from Dexcom and will continue to advocate whenever possible.
2 Likes
I hope your right Laddie. This decision is stupid, my heart goes out to all of our seniors who worked their whole lives and contributed to this Medicare program to one day be able to retire and have health insurance without worry. The G5 is designed around the smartphone usage. The clarity app in my opinion is a brilliant tool to help manage this horrible disease and Medicare should have realized this when they decided to cover the G5 system. I feel from reading and hearing about this decision, that they think using a smartphone and smartwatch paired to the transmitter is just a toy and not one of the most invaluable tools we have in our arsenal. Dexcom should have fought them tooth and nail to advocate for their Medicare patients on this issue.
Here’s something strange I just noticed on my X2 a few moments ago. When I did a calibration on my pump, I needed a little bit of insulin to cover the bg reading. The pump automatically populated and calculated my bolus, so all I had to do was confirm it. I wonder why the pump doesn’t do this automatically every time you go into the bg section of the bolus screen? Very bizarre
The CEO of Dexcom made a deliberate decision (which he described in the recent earnings call) where he (more or less) said he wanted to get the Dexcom product shipping out to recipients and to have the proper reimbursements coming back to Dexcom. That was his first priority. Once this is working then he does intend on finding a solution. My take was that he did not think it worth jeopardizing the entire thing for the sake of fighting a battle (up front) in regards to Smartphone access.
Are you able to elaborate? I may be misunderstanding but this has always worked this way for us and did not seem relevant nor to change with the X2/G5 integration update. I am probably not understanding exactly what you mean.