CMS Opens Review of 1980s Non-Coverage Policy For Artificial Hearts.TUCSON, Ariz. -- In 1986, artificial hearts were new and their use and efficacy were in question. At that time, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS (1) See content management system and color management system. (2) (Conversational Monitor System) Software that provides interactive communications for IBM's VM operating system. ) made a national decision not to provide reimbursement Reimbursement Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred. for any artificial hearts. Two decades later, the CardioWest[TM] temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t) is the world's only FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. approved temporary artificial heart. More than 650 patients have received a TAH-t, accounting for more than 100 patient years of life. On August 1, 2007, CMS posted a notice to its web site announcing the review of the non-coverage policy with a final decision due no later than May 1, 2008. Today, CMS pays for heart transplants heart transplant Procedure to remove a diseased heart and replace it with a healthy one from a legally dead donor. The first was performed in 1967 by Christiaan Barnard. , but not for the TAH-t, which is used as a bridge to transplant for donor eligible patients who are near death from end stage biventricular failure. About half of private insurance plans now cover the artificial heart. "Many private insurers use CMS reimbursement decisions as their benchmark for coverage. A positive decision will make the artificial heart available to most Americans who need it through private insurance and CMS," explains Rodger Ford, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of SynCardia Systems, Inc. manufacturer of the TAH-t. TAH-t Doubles Odds of Living Another Year ... Heart transplant eligible patients, who are near death from end stage biventricular heart failure, increase their odds of living another year from 31 percent to 70 percent, when they are bridged to transplant with the CardioWest TAH-t, based on a comparison with a set of historical control patients who were matched to the patients receiving the artificial heart (New England Journal of Medicine The New England Journal of Medicine (New Engl J Med or NEJM) is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. 2004; 351: 859-867). CardioWest TAH-t photos and images available at http://syncardia.com/newsroom/mediacenter.php |
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