On LinkedIn, SVP and President of Abbott Vascular, Julie Tyler, posted that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved transitional pass-through (TPT) payment status for Esprit BTK.
TPT, a three-year program, ensures that Medicare beneficiaries can benefit from a technology without cost barriers. Now, Esprit BTK has support from both inpatient new technology add-on payment (NTAP) and outpatient TPT. It provides a clearer path to adopt the therapy, Tyler wrote.
“This milestone strengthens our ability to deliver on what matters most: expanding access to a technology designed to restore blood flow, support vessel healing, and ultimately help protect patients from the most devastating consequences of below-the-knee disease,” wrote Tyler.
The company designed Esprit BTK to treat people with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), a severe stage of peripheral artery disease (PAD). It features materials similar to dissolving sutures. Unlike metal stents, it’s not a permanent implant, providing support for blocked vessels only for a few months after the blockage is cleared. At that point, the vessel can remain open on its own, while the scaffold dissolves.
Esprit BTK offers an alternative to balloon angioplasty, which relies on a small balloon delivered via a catheter. It compresses against the arterial wall, opening the blood vessel and restoring flow. Abbott says that before its FDA approval, no stents or drug-coated balloons treated below-the-knee chronic limb-threatening ischemia in the U.S.
Abbott won CE mark for Esprit BTK in August 2025, and picked up FDA clearance in April 2024. In 2024, the company reported positive LIFE-BTK study outcomes for the system compared to balloon angioplasty.
