A diabetes management system is provided that supports connectivity of applications residing on a medical device. The diabetes management system includes a medical device that performs a diabetes care function in relation to a patient and a diabetes care management device in data communication with the medical device. The diabetes care management device is comprised generally of a connection management module and at least one application separate from the connection management module. The connection management module is configured to receive an associate request from the medical device and operable to establish a data connection with the medical device in accordance with IEEE standard 11073, such that the applications interacts with the connection management module to communicate via the data connection with the medical device.