New Reimbursement Codes Introduced to Better Track Costs of Treating Patients with Severely Calcified Lesions
November 28 2011 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI) (Nasdaq: CSII) today
announced new medical diagnosis and procedure codes for severely
calcified coronary arteries. These codes will allow providers to
track the costs of treating high-risk patients with severely
calcified coronary lesions, which is the first step toward
establishing specific reimbursement rates for this unique patient
population. Severely calcified coronary lesions are often
underestimated, even though they present unique challenges that
existing treatment options cannot overcome. These lesions are more
difficult to access, resulting in higher procedural complications
and suboptimal stent placement. Calcified lesions are also
associated with an increased risk of retreatment, heart attacks and
even death.
“High-risk coronary patients often require additional resources
during treatment. In the past, these and other patients were
combined under a single code, which prohibited providers from
tracking costs associated with treating patients with more severe
disease,” said David L. Martin, CSI president and chief executive
officer. “Our goal is to understand and serve this high-risk group,
improve outcomes and align reimbursement rates.”
Dr. Jeffrey Chambers, Metropolitan Heart and Vascular Institute,
Minneapolis added, “Of the 1.7 million patients treated annually
via less invasive and surgical interventions for coronary artery
disease, about 10 percent to 20 percent are afflicted with severely
calcified arteries. Physicians and hospitals have long known it is
more difficult and time consuming to treat patients with severely
calcified coronary arteries. These patients also have significantly
higher major adverse coronary events when treated with currently
available technology. With the use of these new codes, we will have
the ability to quantify the additional resources needed to
optimality treat these patients.” Dr. Chambers is the principal
investigator for ORBIT II, CSI’s pivotal trial for a coronary
application.
The ICD-9-CM Coordination Committee of the Department of Health
and Human Services activated these new and revised codes:
Procedural Codes
- Revised: Code 00.66, percutaneous
transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)
- New: Code 17.55, transluminal coronary
atherectomy, directional atherectomy, excimer laser atherectomy,
rotational atherectomy, that by laser, that by percutaneous
approach, that by transluminal extraction
Diagnosis Code
- New: Code 414.4, coronary
atherosclerosis due to calcified coronary lesion; coronary
atherosclerosis due to severely calcified coronary lesion, code
first coronary atherosclerosis (414.00-414.07)
Inpatient Hospital Procedure Code
- Revised: Code 00.66 was modified to
describe PTCA only instead of PTCA or coronary atherectomy
The new and revised codes are used for submissions related to
inpatient hospital procedures on the hospital UB-04 claim form. For
more information, visit www.csi360.com.
About Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.Cardiovascular Systems,
Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn., is a medical device company focused
on developing and commercializing innovative solutions for treating
vascular and coronary disease. The company's Stealth 360°TM,
Diamondback 360® and Predator 360® PAD Systems treat calcified and
fibrotic plaque in arterial vessels throughout the leg in a few
minutes of treatment time, and address many of the limitations
associated with existing surgical, catheter and pharmacological
treatment alternatives. The U.S. FDA granted 510(k) clearance for
the use of the Diamondback 360° in August 2007, the Predator 360°
in March 2009 and for the Stealth 360° in March 2011. To date, more
than 55,000 PAD procedures have been performed using CSI's PAD
systems in leading institutions across the United States.
CSI has also commenced its ORBIT II Investigational Device
Exemption clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness
of its orbital technology in treating coronary arteries. The
coronary system is limited by federal law to investigational use
and is currently not commercially available in the United
States.
For more information, visit the company’s website at
www.csi360.com.
Safe HarborCertain statements in this news release are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are provided under the
protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements
provided by that Act. For example, the statement in this press
release regarding CSI’s goal to align reimbursement rates with the
cost of treating severely calcified coronary lesions is a
forward-looking statement. These statements involve risks and
uncertainties which could cause results to differ materially from
those projected, including but not limited to the establishment of
specific reimbursement rates for patients with severely calcified
coronary lesions, the activities of physicians in treating these
patients, and other factors detailed from time to time in CSI's SEC
reports, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and
subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. CSI encourages you to
consider all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors
carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in
this release. As a result of these matters, changes in facts,
assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, CSI's actual
results may differ materially from the expected results discussed
in the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The
forward-looking statements made in this release are made only as of
the date of this release, and CSI undertakes no obligation to
update them to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
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