Opportunity Cost and Policy: A Utilization Review of Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose in Manitoba, Canada

Implementation of the guideline-based policy limits is predicted to produce considerable savings, with 95% of potential savings occurring in patients not using insulin. There is, therefore, a significant opportunity cost associated with not implementing a policy to reduce BGTS utilization by patients with diabetes in Manitoba. Based on the lack of evidence to suggest significant outcome improvements with long-term frequent SMBG by patients not using insulin, more selective use of test strips for SMBG could allow for significant cost savings that could be redirected to other programs and interventions for the growing population of patients with diabetes in Manitoba.