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Jump to Key Points The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has released a scientific statement with recommendations for the use of diabetes technology in primary care in order to address challenges in awareness of, access to, and adoption of such technology in primary care settings.
“Most diabetes care is delivered in primary care, yet diabetes technologies remain inconsistently integrated. Workforce, training, time, data infrastructure, and insurance barriers contribute to inequitable access and adoption,” wrote ADA Chief Quality Officer Osagie Ebekozien, MD, and colleagues in the statement.
The document, “Diabetes Technology in the Primary Care Setting: An American Diabetes Association Scientific Statement,” was published online on September 28, 2026, in both Diabetes, Obesity, and Cardiometabolic Care and the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
The ADA has previously recommended that all people with diabetes have unfettered access to evidence-based diabetes technologies, including continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), connected insulin pens, automated insulin delivery (AID) systems, mobile applications, and remote coaching platforms.
- ADA: primary care should integrate diabetes technology via team-based workflows.
- CGM, connected pens, AID, apps, remote coaching = recommended access targets.
- Connected pens add dose reminders, logging, and dose-calculation support.
- AID systems may be simpler to start/manage than older insulin pumps.
- Training, data protocols, manufacturer support, and payer access are key implementation barriers.
The current statement “begins to meet the needs of the primary care community. It offers a road map for bringing diabetes technology into everyday practice,” said Eugene Wright, MD, consulting associate in the Department of Medicine of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and lead author of the statement, in a related press release.
Advances in Insulin Delivery Technology
The statement authors noted that “insulin delivery has changed and continues to change.” Some devices are becoming less complicated and simultaneously becoming more effective and more advanced, the authors wrote, pointing out that:
- Insulin delivery technologies can improve diabetes management, user experience, and care team experience.
- Connected pens can offer specific advantages over traditional syringes and pens, such as dose reminders, dose calculations, dose logging, and assistance in decreasing unintentionally omitted or extra doses.
- AID systems are fundamentally different from previous generations of insulin pumps. They can be far less complex to initiate and to manage than earlier insulin pumps, depending on the model or system.
- Well-integrated diabetes technology makes diabetes care more efficient, allows for individualized care, and enables population health management.
Team-Based Models
According to the statement, key steps to integrating diabetes technology into primary care include helping patients make informed choices on what technology to use, providing training and support for optimal use of the chosen device, and reviewing data and making care plan adjustments as needed.
In order to facilitate integration, the statement makes the following recommendations:
- At the national, state, and local level, healthcare organizations, payors, and practices should support team-based models to facilitate the optimized use of diabetes technology. Team members may include healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician associates as well as diabetes care and education specialists (DCESs), nurses, registered dietitian nutritionists, pharmacists, social workers, behavioral health specialists, medical assistants, and community health workers.
- Healthcare professional training programs should provide education to prepare primary care teams to integrate diabetes technology in current and future practices.
The authors noted that “the interdisciplinary care team, including DCESs, can extend primary care professional capacity and support technology integration.”
In addition, virtual specialty care models and remote patient monitoring capabilities can expand “access to specialized team-based care while maintaining the continuity of primary care.”
If patients are willing to share data from their devices (CGM, insulin pens, AID, connected pens, etc), “clinic-approved protocols for data-informed therapy adjustment can help overcome therapeutic inertia and enable team members to practice at the top of their scope of practice,” the statement pointed out.
Involving Manufacturers and Vendors
Technology manufacturers and vendors should also be involved by providing “culturally congruent support both for the start-up of CGM and other devices and for troubleshooting and replacement of devices not functioning adequately,” the statement authors wrote. In addition, government and commercial payors “should provide access and limit barriers to diabetes technology, including CGM.”
“The evidence summarized in this statement demonstrates that, when supported by team-based workflows, structured protocols, appropriate training, and reliable manufacturer clinical support, diabetes technologies can be safely, effectively, and efficiently implemented in primary care settings,” the authors concluded.
Ebekozien reported being an ADA employee. Wright also reported serving as an associate editor of Clinical Diabetes and having previously served as the inaugural chair of the ADA Primary Care Interest Group, as a member of the ADA and the American Heart Association Know Diabetes by Heart Science Advisory Group, and in leadership roles with the ADA Clinical Conference. The other authors reported a variety of disclosures with pharmaceutical companies and other entities.
Miriam E. Tucker is a freelance journalist based in the Washington, DC, area. She is a regular contributor to Medscape, with other work appearing in The Washington Post, NPR’s Shots blog, and diaTribe. She is on X @MiriamETucker and BlueSky @miriametucker.bsky.social.
