Putting CRT defibrillators in more patients is a cost-effective way to treat mild heart failure, according to a Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) study unveiled at today’s Heart Rhythm Society meeting in Boston.
In looking at the economic impact of offering the implants to a larger patient population, the study found that CRT-Ds for low-risk patients is a viable option when measuring patient "quality-adjusted life years," an internationally recognized measurement balancing both quality and quantity of life beyond treatment.
The study may be a boost for the company’s marketing strategy, given that health care cost-cutting remains a hot issue. A recent national survey of 500 opinion leaders ranked "controlling health care costs" among the top priorities in efforts to balance the federal budget and improve the U.S. economy.
Medtronic’s findings came from the Raft economic analysis, which considered CRT-Ds for patients with mildly symptomatic heart failure, defined as Class II or III. The FDA last month granted Medtronic expanded indication to market its line of CRT-D devices for Class II heart failure, a potential market of 200,000 new patients.
"The recent FDA approval expanding the indication of our CRT-D devices – coupled with this strong economic data – showcases our commitment to treating heart failure and enhancing patient outcomes at every stage of care with our innovative portfolio of CRT-D therapies," Dr. David Steinhaus, heart failure VP & general manager and cardiac rhythm disease unit medical director, said in prepared remarks. "With the rising cost of health care significantly impacting our global economy, it is critically important to provide high-value, safe, effective therapies like CRT-D, that provide significant improvements at cost thresholds deemed acceptable to health care decision makers, as this analysis demonstrated."
The Medtronic study concluded that treatment with an CRT-D costs $33,025 in QALY gained per patient. The benchmark for therapy cost-effectiveness for other serious chronic conditions is at least $50,000 per QALY gained, according to the company.
*Updated May 11, 2012: The aricle mistakenly stated that Medtronic’s study considered implantable cardioverter defibrillators, but the study was exclusive to cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillation.
