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Medicare To Cover More Defibrillators

September 29, 2004
Medicare is proposing to expand coverage of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), a move expected to save thousands of lives a year while providing a financial jolt to device manufacturers Guidant Corp., Medtronic Inc. and St. Jude Medical Inc.

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Nearly 500,000 Medicare patients would be eligible to receive one of the devices under the propopsed guidelines.

"With this announcement, we're once again taking a major step to save lives and improve the quality of life for America's seniors, " said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. "By increasing the use of defibrillators we are striking a blow against the leading cause of death among older Americans."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it does not expect all eligible beneficiaries to seek the devices. In the first year, Medicare anticipates at least 25,000 more beneficiaries will get the implants, "potentially saving up to 2,500 lives," CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said.

An ICD is a small stopwatch-sized device implanted under the skin near the collarbone. The device delivers electrical shocks to the heart to stop an abnormally fast heart beat. The devices cost about $25,000 each.

Coronary heart disease is the single most common cause of death in the United States. Sudden death, frequently from heart arrhythmias, is estimated to account for approximately 50 percent of all coronary heart disease deaths. An ICD is implanted in a patient's chest to monitor the heart's rhythm and deliver an electrical shock when a life-threatening arrhythmia is detected.

The expanded coverage for the implantable defibrillators is based on new clinical studies, showing for the first time that certain patients who have never had a heart attack are likely to benefit from these devices. The coverage decision was prompted by results of a trial, labeled the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT), which was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. It is a prospective, randomized trial to compare the effectiveness of medication, implantable defibrillators and placebo on survival in patients with heart failure.

Based on the clinical trial results, the draft coverage decision recommends coverage for most of the population studied in the trial, including patients with heart failure and poor function of their left ventricle.

In addition, careful analysis of the new data from this trial in combination with data from all previous ICD trials showed that patients with a certain finding on electrocardiograms of their heart, called a narrow QRS, may also derive a small but measurable, significant benefit from having an ICD.

As part of the coverage decision, CMS develop a registry that can track the progress of patients who receive the devices. The registry will also help develop additional evidence on who is most likely to benefit from the devices.

"Our support for some practical studies as part of our coverage decisions is designed to provide additional evidence to help doctors and patients get the most out of new technologies," McClellan said. "We want to help develop better information about which patients benefit most from having an ICD."

"With more accurate information, patients at the highest risk who can benefit most from the device should be more likely to receive them, and patients who are unlikely to benefit would be able to avoid the unnecessary risk of having the device implanted," said Dr. Sean Tunis, the chief medical officer for CMS. "We are seeking input now on the best ways to support the development of this information to help our beneficiaries get even better care."

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