Pump Shopping, part 2
I've narrowed it down to two different pumps. We'll call them "A" and "B".
Met with "B" company rep last week. Sat down for maybe 45 minutes at the local Borders and went over the pump. About 5 minutes in, he realized I'd clearly done my homework (or, as I explained to him, someone else had done my homework) and dropped the whole spiel approach, which was good. I asked some questions, he demoed some features, we chatted about pumps and diabetes in general. I left that meeting feeling pretty darn sure I'd go with that pump.
This morning, I met with the "A" company rep. Met with her in the staff room at my endocrinologist's office. She is there every Tuesday. Please note that when my endo and I discussed new pumps last visit, he did not express a preference either way. One can pretty much infer a preference, however, as company A sets up shop in his office. His staff take calls for her and schedule appointments for her. She is, apparently, on their staff (or so thought the very confused person who took my call).
When I arrived for our meeting, she started off with, "How's the Symlin going?" How, might you ask, did she know I'd started symlin? She had, on the table, my chart.
Yes, you read that right. My. chart.
Now, she's on their staff (I think). She may serve as a CDE for them. But we were meeting outside of an appointment, and she was in her capacity as a pump sales rep.
Honestly, it's pretty much a draw between the two pumps. Features wise, they are very similar. "B" is more fun and a tad bit more flexible. "A" is a company with a very strong history and a 'cutting edge' future. Pot-ay-to, Pot-ah-to.
But the cozy cozy relationship company "A" has with my endo rubs me the wrong way. Makes me lean toward the underdog.
Looks like I'll be a boogie woogie bugle girl for Company "B". Stay tuned for insurance dramas (hopefully, there won't be any!)
posted by Kassie @ 3:37 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Interesting point. I'd have no issue if she was my trainer or if I'd already committed to their pump and she needed to access info like A1c. But this was a little skeevy to me.
Nice to see you delurking :)
I know exactly what you mean about the cozy relationship rubbing you the wrong way.
A certain pump company in the UK has tie-ins to a number of hospitals, meaning you are pretty much forced to use their pump. My hospital is one such and it makes me uncomfortable, even aside from the fact that the pump in question may not be the best pump for everyone.
I actually fought to get the pump that I wanted, because it was right for me. I won :-)
I had to fight to get my pump too, because my endo's office had that cozy relationship with the big M (I'm on a Cozmo).
It's sometimes hard to look at these pumps and compare, mostly because these sales people are SO GOOD at making you want their pump. Heck, it's their job.
The thing that really swayed me from Medtronic to Cozmo was the whole proprietary infusion set thing. It's not so much an issue now, because you can get adapters, but just the general principal ticked me off.
Infusion sets are a very personal thing - who are they to tell me which one I HAVE to use?!
To make it even more weird - guess what set I use & love? Yes, a Minimed QuickSet. It's a strange world indeed. It was just the principal of the thing that got to me.
My endo made me jump through a ton of extra hoops to get what I wanted rather than their standard Medtronic/Minimed pump.
Best of luck with your choice - it will work out well for you either way you go.
Kassie,
I have to say that I am surprised that she was given full access to your file. If she's a paid CDE on your endo's staff, I suppose that would be one thing...however, if she wasn't... doesn't the word acronym HIPAA mean anything? If it was me, I'd be having a little discussion about patient privacy with the endo staff. That does make me angry.
I never spoke to representatives when I chose my pumps, so I never got the marketing discussions. I based my decision off of the features that I researched for the diabeticfeed podcast and the feedback I got from other pumpers about the customer service from each company.
I'm sure that whatever decision you make will be the right one for you...
Cheers,
Christel
Yikes, Kassie, you had a similar experience to mine. My endo too gives preferential treatment to one pump company over another. I found it irritating that a pump company rep trying to make a sale had access to my information. My thought was that if they're selling a product as a local rep, it's very unlikely they're a paid staff member at my endo's office -- especially given the number of endo offices in the state that they're covering.
Other reasons that I went for the underdog...
The way I look at it, pumps in general have a cutting edge future. I may have to wait a bit longer for new developments; but they'll come along. The developments don't stay new for very long, that's for sure.
I liked the features on the pump I chose -- I liked their share-to-pump meter, I liked the personalization factor (which seemed more fleshed out than the other company's)
I liked that the pump reps from underdog company acknowledged that the grumblings I'd heard about their customer service from other people with diabetes were true and likely justified. That they didn't make excuses, that they assured me that improvements were made and were still being made, was reassuring. And, they were right, I have never had a problem getting technical support, emergency assistance (I've only had one *real* emergency), etc.
I think you'll be happy with your decision either way... Good luck, let us know how you progress.
Ok, first of all, you totally went the whole Company A, Company B route just to use that pun at the end, didn't you? That was such a groaner. :D
Joslin doesn't seem to have any kind of relationship with any of the pump companies. I was told to get the reps to come to me and tell the CDE/endo which one we wanted. We wound up going with MM because they had a purple one. Honest to god. Olivia wanted purple. Given that the Cozmo rep never returned my phone calls and the differences between the Animas and MM were minimal, the colour of the pump was the deciding factor. Since Olivia has to wear the thing, I figured it was her choice in the end. We've been happy with it, but we have nothing to compare it to, since it's her first pump.
Company B. Honestly. Fifty lashes with a wet noodle for you, missy.
That sounds really suspect about the whole chart thing - I'd be really ticked about it...
My deciding factor? The pump that would fit best between my not-so-endowed 'girls' :-P
I've done the sit-down with two pump reps, too, MM and Animas. I was leaning towards the Animas last summer, because they had a built-in food database that MM had no intention of creating.
The truth is, though, that I still like my MM 508 better than anything that's out on the market, so I ended up not doing anything. I figure I'll just keep using it til it really conks out for good (I'm already more than a year past my four-year warranty), go on Lantus for a week, and get set up on whatever the latest options are from MM or Animas when I have to.
And yeah, Kassie, I'd be annoyed about having a rep look through my files. Did you ever find out what that deal was about?
I've never met Brendon's rep face to face. We've had a couple of phone conversations and that's about it. The rep is lucky Children's loves the Cozmo because I wouldn't have chosen it based on the rep.
She's fine, but she refuses to come to our house and insists we go to Boston to meet with her for any reason. We've declined and basically lived without some things because it's not worth driving into Boston for something that will take 5 minutes to do.
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