Medicare Expands Defibrillator Coverage ..."IF"

[ElsewheresDaughter]

About 500,000 Medicare beneficiaries can now receive coverage for expensive defibrillators — if they agree to release details about their cases to a database shared by hospitals, Medicare officials said

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20050128/ap_on_he_me/medicare_defibrillators

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Private insurance providers applauded the decision because the government in essence endorsed making a database now shared by hospitals the basis for insurance coverage. That system, insurers say, would better direct the best treatment to the right people, improve care and save money.


Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, called the decision an important step toward a health care system based on documented evidence of specific therapies.


"We hope that today's announcement paves the way for future post-marketing surveillance of medical devices and drugs," she said.


The Medicare agency is accepting public comment before a Feb. 14 forum by its Council on Technology and Innovation as it drafts guidelines on linking coverage to data collection.