FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 350:2199-2203 May 20, 2004 Number 21 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Purchase this article Editorial by Tunis, S. R. Letters Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited E-mail When Letters Appear PubMed Citation

While Congress was publicly debating a prescription-drug benefit for older patients last year, the Medicare program quietly announced plans to provide coverage for three invasive, high-cost procedures that potentially could affect its 41 million enrollees. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers Medicare, opted to pay for lung-volume–reduction surgery, implantable cardioverter–defibrillators, and left ventricular assist devices in selected patients. Although the numbers are speculative, collectively, these three interventions could ultimately affect more than 200,000 people a year at a projected cost of $1.3 billion to $11.4 billion, or from 3 percent to more than 20 percent of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Lung-Volume–Reduction Surgery

Implantable Cardioverter–Defibrillators

Left Ventricular Assist Devices

The Decision-Making Process

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Other Factors

The Need for Explicit Criteria

Source Information

From Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Related Letters:

Medicare Coverage for Technological Innovations
Wynia M. K., Witlen R., Hart S., Gillick M. R., Tunis S. R.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2004; 351:719-720, Aug 12, 2004. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Pandharipande, P. V., Gervais, D. A., Mueller, P. R., Hur, C., Gazelle, G. S. (2008). Radiofrequency Ablation versus Nephron-sparing Surgery for Small Unilateral Renal Cell Carcinoma: Cost-effectiveness Analysis. Radiology 248: 169-178 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gold, M. R., Sofaer, S., Siegelberg, T. (2007). Medicare And Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Time To Ask The Taxpayers. Health Aff (Millwood) 26: 1399-1406 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ramsey, S. D., Shroyer, A. L., Sullivan, S. D., Wood, D. E. (2007). Updated Evaluation of the Cost-effectiveness of Lung Volume Reduction Surgery. Chest 131: 823-832 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Keenan, P. S., Neumann, P. J., Phillips, K. A. (2006). Biotechnology And Medicare's New Technology Policy: Lessons From Three Case Studies. Health Aff (Millwood) 25: 1260-1269 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Pearson, S. D., Rawlins, M. D. (2005). Quality, Innovation, and Value for Money: NICE and the British National Health Service. JAMA 294: 2618-2622 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Neumann, P. J., Rosen, A. B., Weinstein, M. C. (2005). Medicare and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. NEJM 353: 1516-1522 [Full Text]  
• Ramsey, S. D., Sullivan, S. D. (2005). Evidence, Economics, And Emphysema: Medicare's Long Journey With Lung Volume Reduction Surgery. Health Aff (Millwood) 24: 55-66 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Neumann, P. J., Divi, N., Beinfeld, M. T., Levine, B.-S., Keenan, P. S., Halpern, E. F., Gazelle, G. S. (2005). Medicare's National Coverage Decisions, 1999-2003: Quality Of Evidence And Review Times. Health Aff (Millwood) 24: 243-254 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Califf, R. M., Ryan, T., Douglas, P., Goldschmidt-Clermont, P. J. (2004). A time of accelerated change in academic cardiovascular medicine: Implications for academic divisions of cardiology and their training programs. J Am Coll Cardiol 44: 1957-1965 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wolk, M. J., Peterson, E., Brindis, R., Eagle, K. (2004). President's page: The appropriate cardiologist: Responsible stewardship in a golden era of cardiology. J Am Coll Cardiol 44: 933-935 [Full Text]  
• Wynia, M. K., Witlen, R., Hart, S., Gillick, M. R., Tunis, S. R. (2004). Medicare Coverage for Technological Innovations. NEJM 351: 719-720 [Full Text]  
• Tunis, S. R. (2004). Why Medicare Has Not Established Criteria for Coverage Decisions. NEJM 350: 2196-2198 [Full Text]