Transforming Diabetes Care: Tina Platania's Role in CCS's Holistic Patient-Centric Approach

To protect the health of patients with diabetes, continuous glucose monitors (CGM) are vital, as they are hailed as the "next best thing to insulin.” In order to learn more about the wealth of information CGMs provide and their role in personalized diabetes care at CCS, Infection Control Today^® (ICT^®) speaks with Tina Platania, PharmD, CDCES, and her transformative work combining innovation and compassion in navigating diabetes care.

Platania is a registered pharmacist and a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist. After working for many years as a licensed pharmacist in a retail setting, she took on the role of Director of Clinical Services at CCS, where she oversees the LivingConnected and LivingLinked programs. She leads a team of registered nurses and dietitians who provide patients with initial device education and ongoing clinical support.

She discusses how health care providers, insurers, policymakers, and infection preventionists can work together to promote the adoption of CGM technology and the comprehensive support programs to enhance the management of chronic conditions and reduce help reduce health care costs.
"[Helping] these patients get their supplies in a timely manner, that they don't [end] up going back to finger sticking, and then having that possibility of getting an infection, but also being able to everyone work together as a collaborative team for the patient. I think also incentivizing possibly more wellness programs for patients to help incentivize and get them on that right path."

Platania has played a crucial role in the transition of CCS from a DME provider to a company that offers a whole-person care management approach. CCS has recently partnered with the chief medical officer, Arti Masturzo, MD, MBA, since that role was created. The company's emphasis is not only on providing remote patient monitoring and education but also on meeting and supporting patients where they are in their health journey. Their mission is to improve overall health by addressing the physical, social, and behavioral needs that are unique to each individual patient.

“CGM, or continuous glucose monitors, … I like to refer to it almost as the next best thing to insulin,” Platania said. “Because they have so much information that is available to patients, to health care providers, to families, that they are just a wealth of knowledge. And so, with that, you have to be very personalized as to who is who's best eligible for a CGM at this point. And basically, with our company at CCS, everything is kind of based on medical necessity.”

She continued, “You've probably seen articles, maybe videos, and social media; there are all types of people using CGM now just for health reasons; they want to see how exercise affects their blood sugar. And people are using them, “How does sleep affect my blood sugar and exercise and food and everything? But for CCS, we basically kind of look at, we carefully consider each individual, each patient. So, we get referrals from providers' offices from medical device companies. We get prescriptions for devices. Everything is individualized and personalized. We look at their needs and the, you know, the payer and what they are required, what kind of documentation they're required to give for a CGM for a patient. We take all that was, and we just use a collaborative approach with the providers, with the patient, and with payers to make sure we're meeting the patient where they're at and getting the CGM to the right patients at the right time.”