The American Medical Assn. granted medical device maker Abiomed’s (NSDQ:ABMD) 3 new service codes for the Impella percutaneous heart pumps, effective January 2013.
The new Category I Current Procedure Terminology codes cover insertion, repositioning and removal of Impella percutaneous devices, according to a press release.
CPT codes, owned and managed by the AMA, provide physicians, payers and other nodes in the healthcare pipeline with uniform terminology for clinical services. The majority of healthcare insurers use CPT codes, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
That’s more good news for Abiomed, which recently touted positive findings from a head-to-head study comparing its Impella 2.5 heart pump to intra aortic balloon pump support.
The 452-patient trial showed that the next-generation Impella system led to a reduction in adverse events in and out of the hospital as well as a reduction in repeat vascularization when compared to IABP therapy, according to the report published late last month in the journal Circulation.
Earlier this year the medical device giant posted record Q1 sales and 30% year-over-year Impella sales growth, which Abiomed chairman, president & CEO Michael Minogue told investors was a sign that the technology was becoming the new standard of care for percutaneous circulatory support in the U.S.
"The creation of these newly listed CPT codes, coupled with the updated clinical guidelines from November 2011 and recent PROTECT II publication in Circulation, is generating further momentum for Impella platform adoption," Abiomed chairman, president & CEO Michael Minogue said in prepared remarks.
Later this year the
Society for Cardiac Angiography & Interventions, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society, all of which had a hand in shaping the new Impella codes, will provide additional details on valuation and payment for the devices, according to a press release.
The Impella 2.5 device is a percutaneous "micro heart pump" with integrated motor and sensors, which the company bills as the world’s smallest heart pump.
