Medicare Widens Coverage for Heart Device
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Medicare has agreed to expand coverage by one-third for implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) -- devices used to steady hearts that beat irregularly -- to 500,000 patients, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
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By Christopher Snowbeck, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.  Dec. 16--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for a third time socked a local company's plan to market a "heart sock" device for the treatment of congestive heart failure.
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Most seniors will have to pay 5.6 percent more for basic Medicare coverage next year, officials announced yesterday. But premiums for more affluent beneficiaries will increase by as much as 83 percent, because the federal government for the first time will require wealthier people to pay more.
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Pharmacists have long been called on by customers to do more than just fill prescriptions. But drugstores, from giants like Rite Aid to smaller regional chains, are looking to expand their counseling programs and boost revenue - a trend that could be bolstered by the prescription-drug benefit that will become available to Medicare enrollees in 2006.
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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDayNews) -- New research has convinced Medicare officials that doubling or tripling the use of implantable defibrillators to treat heart failure is economically justifiable.
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Defibrillators, stents, artificial knees and hips will be among the gadgets more closely tracked under the new rules.
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The new law has touched off a battle between insurance companies and drug companies that could determine how many medicines will be readily available to Medicare beneficiaries.
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In what could be the most expensive decision in Medicare's history, officials say the government has decided to expand coverage of implanted heart-shocking devices for people with weakened hearts.
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By Hanah Cho, The Baltimore Sun  Sep. 17--At St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, heart attack patients are receiving faster treatment.
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U.S. health officials on Thursday  approved over-the-counter sales for an at-home heart  defibrillator that proponents hope will save more people from  sudden cardiac death.
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NEW YORK  - By delivering a small shock that gets the heart beating regularly again, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator or ICDs can save the lives of patients with heart conditions.
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WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration plans to revamp how it handles safety issues with the stents, pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and other medical devices it regulates.
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Wider coverage for expensive  implanted heart devices likely will cost the U.S. Medicare  program for seniors about $2 billion over five years, the  program's administrator said on Thursday.
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Less-costly versions of implanted  heart devices represent a good value for most patients who need  them, according to a cost analysis study presented on  Wednesday.
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Numerous media reports have indicated big increases for Medicare and employer-sponsored health insurance premiums and for the number of Americans lacking health insurance.
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The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved for use the first totally implantable artificial heart under a program that will make the complicated, $250,000 device available for as many as 4,000 people.
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The US government on Tuesday proposed expanding Medicare coverage for costly, potentially life-saving implanted heart devices, a decision expected to benefit makers Guidant Corp.