One of the fastest-growing trends in health and wellness circles was once seen solely as the domain of diabetics: watching your blood sugar.

Why it matters: New weight-loss drugs and online health influencers' attention on regulating blood sugar are helping fuel interest in real-time glucose tracking among nondiabetic patients, even as doctors tell Tina the benefits are uncertain for this group.

Driving the news: Glucose monitoring tech could become even more widely used by nondiabetics after the FDA recently approved the first over-the-counter device, from Dexcom.

The big picture: The devices, which use sensors attached to microneedles or patches to continuously measure glucose levels, are increasingly being marketed to nondiabetics. Costs can vary but typically range between $100-$300 per month, per Forbes.

• Wellness companies like Nutrisense and Veri sell app-based metabolic health programs using a leading glucose tracker from medical device giant Abbott. Another company, Signos, aims to help customers lose weight through "real-time feedback" using a Dexcom device.
• Abbott CEO Robert Ford has said he wants the company to grow its glucose monitor FreeStyle Libre, which recorded $1.4 billion in sales in 2023, into a $10 billion product in the coming years, per MedTech Dive.
• Tech giants like Apple are also looking to add sensors in their wearables that can monitor glucose levels.

Friction point: Doctors told Axios they have mixed feelings about the devices for nondiabetics.

• Advocates for the devices' broader use say they can provide feedback on what food may cause glucose levels to spike. Leveraging that information to keep glucose levels stable may improve the body's ability to burn stored fat for energy, which could help lead to weight loss.
• "Not everybody needs" a glucose tracker, said Scott Isaacs, an Atlanta-based endocrinologist.
• "There's the potential for problems that occur where people get worried about normal blood sugars or people get concerned about what are normal changes throughout the day or with meals."

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UnitedHealth Group on Monday said it started to restore medical claims services disrupted by a cyberattack, as the Biden administration pressed the company for clearer guidance on when normal operations will resume.

Why it matters: Hospitals, physicians and pharmacies in many cases have struggled to get paid since UnitedHealth subsidiary Change Healthcare, the nation's largest processor of medical claims, was hit by a ransomware attack weeks ago.

Catch up quick: UnitedHealth on Monday said it's so far advanced over $2 billion to help affected providers.

• The Biden administration during a Monday meeting pushed UnitedHealth and other insurers to make accelerated payments to providers, senior HHS officials said.
• More claims are starting to flow, an official said: "We've seen significant improvement between last week and this week, but we have a last mile to go."

Between the lines: Officials deferred to UnitedHealth on estimates of how long it would take to resume normal operations.

• UnitedHealth said Change on Monday began releasing medical claims preparation software and that it will be made available "to thousands of customers" in the next several days.

Physicians, medical equipment vendors and other providers looking for relief from Medicare payment cuts will likely have to wait until after the election now that congressional leaders dropped health care provisions from the next government funding deal.

Why it matters: Payment fixes could have softened the financial blow many providers are feeling from the Change Healthcare cyberattack, Victoria Knight wrote on Axios Pro.

Between the lines: After Congress roughly halved a 3.4% cut to Medicare physician pay earlier this month, some lawmakers have raised the prospect of further relief.

• One proposal would adjust the index Medicare uses to make payments based on where a physician works.
• Providers of durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs and hospital beds, have been hoping for an extension of a Medicare pay bump through the end of this year.
• A provision that would make permanent pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities in Medicare was also on the table.

State of play: House and Senate leaders fighting over the border and other issues in a major funding package decided over the weekend not to add more headaches with big health policy changes.

• That means providers will have to pin their hopes on a post-election lame duck session.
• Unless there's further congressional action, physicians will see a 2.93% cut to Medicare payments in January.

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The number of remote monitoring services billed to Medicare grew nearly 1,700% in the two years after the agency allowed more reimbursements for doctors to keep track of patients' vital signs between office visits, per KFF Health News.

• The COVID-19 pandemic helped fuel an explosion in digital tools that help doctors continuously monitor things like blood pressure and weight — while also freeing up office time to see more patients.
• Despite the sharp uptick in remote monitoring billings since Medicare expanded its payment policy in 2019, research is still lacking on how the technology should best be deployed, KFF notes.

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