Medicare Weighs Coverage Changes for Implanted Cardiac Devices

The Medicare agency is heading toward possible coverage changes for certain implantable heart devices for the first time in a dozen years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is reviewing (in analysis number CAG-00157R4) how implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are covered under Medicare. The agency said the review came from within the agency, not an external party. An industry group for medical devices praised the CMS’s efforts. “We think it’s overdue, it’s definitely time to revisit this,” Chandra Branham, vice president of payment and health-care delivery policy at the Advanced Medical Technology Association, told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 10.

ICDs are ...