AAA Screening Now Covered by Medicare
In February 2005 U.S. Representative John Shimkus (R- IL) introduced the Screening Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Very Efficiently (SAAAVE) Act (HR 827) to direct Medicare to cover abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening (a similar act had been sponsored by Rep. James Greenwood (R-PA) the previous year). In February 2006 President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S.1932) whose section 5112 institutes Medicare coverage for ultrasound screening for AAA starting on January 1, 2007. Men who have smoked sometime during their lifetime and men and women with a family history of AAA are eligible for screening as part of their Welcome to Medicare physical exam (WTMPE).
According to the Society for Vascular Surgery, approximately 200,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with AAA each year, 15,000 of whom may have AAA threatening enough to cause death from a ruptured aneurysm if not treated. Dr. Bill McMillan, a surgeon with Minneapolis Vascular Physicians, a practice specializing in heart and circulatory diseases, told Pioneer Press that surgical interventions to treat aneurysms might grow by 20 percent or more in the years to come. Newer repair techniques include the use of endovascular stent grafts though not all patients are eligible. Manufacturers such as Medtronic will benefit from demand most likely to increase for such devices.
January 4, 2007 Related topics: Legal & legislative, Surgery