Cardiac Insight, Inc., a leading healthcare innovator specializing in prescription-based wearable cardiac sensors and automated electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis software for cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis, shares its perspective on recent announcements impacting its served markets.
These markets include the exponentially growing Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and the emerging ‘long COVID-19’ cardiac arrhythmia diagnostic market, both of which potentially impact millions of Medicare recipients nationwide.
On July 7, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released proposed rule changes for payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), and other Medicare Part B issues, effective on or after January 1, 2023. The MPFS proposed rule, subject to a comment period and Final Rule determination later in 2022, includes the long-awaited establishment of a national physician payment rate framework for Long Term ECG (LT-ECG) CPT code sets. LT-ECG code sets support diagnostic ECG testing, most often performed using chest-worn prescription wearables worn from over 2 days to up to 15 days.
“Cardiac Insight appreciates this progress by CMS, which affirms the importance of the LT-ECG diagnostic category to aid physicians in timely, accurate diagnosis of potentially devastating cardiac arrhythmias, especially AF. Atrial Fibrillation or ‘AF’ is the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and puts individuals at up to 5X the risk of a disabling stroke, as well as at higher risk of heart failure and sudden cardiac death if left undiagnosed and untreated,” stated Bob Odell, Chief Operating Officer, of Cardiac Insight.
“The proposed MPFS is public recognition of the work physicians perform daily to apply ECG monitors, generate reports, and achieve earlier patient diagnosis and treatment of significant cardiac conditions that can improve Medicare recipient healthcare quality, outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Efficient cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis becomes even more important with the increased incidence of cardiac arrhythmias noted following COVID-19 infection,” continued Odell.
Cardiac Insight’s Cardea SOLO™ 7-day ECG System uniquely provides a provider-centric approach to cardiac arrhythmia detection. Cardea SOLO offers the only complete “in-house and all-inclusive” prescription-based wearable cardiac arrhythmia ECG patch detection system that delivers automated draft analysis at the point of clinical care, with no costly outsourcing. Eliminating ECG services outsourcing reduces a potential source of diagnostic delays and patient data breaches. Outsourcing can also increase costs to patients, payers and healthcare systems compared to the provider-centric approach.
Cardea SOLO ECG is prescribed by cardiologists, internal medicine, adult primary care, and medical specialists working in a variety of healthcare settings around the world.