Medicare will begin covering cardiac rehabilitation for patients with stable, chronic heart failure with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 35% or less.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the new policy on Feb. 18.
About 5 million Americans have heart failure, but only half have an ejection fraction of less than 35%, Dr. Joseph A. Hill, chief of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, said in an interview. Dr. Hill is chairman of the Heart Failure Society of America’s advocacy committee.
The HFSA, along with the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the American Heart Association (AHA), submitted a formal request to the CMS to add heart failure to the list of approved indications for coverage for cardiac rehabilitation. The agency began its analysis process in June 2013.
At that time, cardiac rehab was covered only for acute myocardial infarction within the preceding 12 months, coronary artery bypass surgery, current stable angina pectoris, heart valve repair or replacement, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary stenting, and a heart or heart-lung transplant. Cardiac rehab includes physician prescribed exercise; risk factor modification, including education, counseling, and behavioral intervention; psychosocial assessment; and outcomes assessment.
Physician supervision is required for coverage.
The CMS said it had reconsidered coverage for some heart failure patients as a result of the HF-Action study, published in 2009 (JAMA 2009;301:1439-50). That study "provided the best evidence of benefit" in the HF patient group, but in particular for patients with an ejection fraction of 35% or less and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV symptoms.
Specifically, the coverage is extended to "beneficiaries with stable, chronic heart failure defined as patients with left ventricular ejection fraction of 35% or less and [NYHA] class II to IV symptoms despite being on optimal heart failure therapy for at least six weeks." The decision defines stable patients as those who have not had recent (within the past 6 weeks) or planned (within the past 6 months) major cardiovascular hospitalizations or procedures.
"We conclude that the evidence that supports the clinical benefits of the individual components of CR programs is sufficient to determine that participation in these programs improves health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic HF," the CMS noted in its analysis.
"We’re very pleased," with the CMS decision, said Dr. Hill.
The ACC said it was still evaluating the decision. But Dr. M. Eugene Sherman, chairman of the ACC’s Advocacy Steering Committee, added that "we are pleased to see Medicare expand coverage of cardiac rehabilitation services, as the ACC requested, to a new patient population where medical and scientific literature demonstrates a medical benefit."
Dr. Hill said that the HFSA and others were hopeful that the CMS would eventually expand coverage of rehab to the remainder of HF patients.
On Twitter @aliciaault