In case people are wondering if our governmental overlords really care about the latest and greatest treatment guidelines published by our professional health care organizations, take note.
CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is still using guidelines for defibrillator implantation from 2005 to justify payment for services in their national coverage decision, whereas the latest guidelines published by the Heart Rhythm Society published in 2008 carry signficiant differences in their recommendations for appropriate patients for this technology.
So which set of guidelines should doctors use?
The answer is obvious: if you use the latest data to decide who should receive a defibrillator, you might be subject to a Department of Justice investigation.
So much for using updated guidelines.
-Wes
2 comments:
Not only can they not keep up with guidelines, but they are trying to establish health reform and are already behind the 8-ball. I discuss some of this nonsense in my blog today
GML
I posted on this topic a little while ago, if you're interested:
http://www.epstudiossoftware.com/blog/?p=595
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