As expected, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized its recommendation to extend reimbursement coverage to the use of MRI for blood-flow management scans.
The September 28 announcement follows nine months of clinical evidence review and public feedback on the request to remove the phrase "blood-flow measurement" from nationally noncovered indications.
In other action, CMS also followed through on its previous recommendation that found no evidence that MRI improves health outcomes in patients who have an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator or cardiac pacemaker approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MRI use.
CMS noted that there are currently no such devices on the market, so it proposed no change in the current provision and will retain the current contraindications.
Related Reading
Cardiac MR changes management in 62% of cases, study shows, September 25, 2009
CMS OKs MRI blood-flow coverage, July 2, 2009
Cardiac MR techniques improve myocardial assessment, June 15, 2009
MRI detects bleeding in the heart after a heart attack, February 13, 2009
MRI can provide safe imaging for pediatric heart patients, August 29, 2008
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