| |
        
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
ARRHYTHMIA DETECTION AND ALARM CONSORTIUM ESTABLISHED
SAN DIEGO, CA and GREENSBURG, PA, April 23, 2007
San Diego-based CardioNet, Inc., the leading provider of wireless mobile cardiac outpatient monitoring solutions, in partnership with Cardiac Telecom, the world pioneer of cardiac outpatient telemetry monitoring, announced today the formation of the Arrhythmia Detection and Alarm Consortium (ADAAC).
Created to focus exclusively on addressing issues related to products cleared by the FDA as arrhythmia detection and alarm systems, ADAAC will initially work with the AMA, ACC, HRS and other industry groups to obtain appropriate CPT coding for its technology. Previously, the Remote Cardiac Services Provider Group (RCSPG) served to broadly represent the interests of all remote cardiac services manufacturers and providers.
“RCSPG, as a united group of ‘service providers,’ has been successful in defending reimbursement and fighting cuts initiated by Medicare for Holter, event, and pacemaker monitoring services,” said James M. Sweeney, chairman and CEO of CardioNet. “As the RCSPG is now being asked to expand its scope of activity to such things as writing code descriptions for the ACC/HRS and the AMA and to assist in developing CPT codes, there is a more pressing need for a consortium to represent the best interest of arrhythmia detection and alarm systems specifically.”
Cardiac Telecom and CardioNet have been actively servicing patients with this technology since 1998 and 2002 respectively, and are the only companies currently allowed to bill Medicare under the HGSA M-60D policy. Recognizing their position as the only firms competent to comment on coverage, coding, and reimbursement issues affecting their technology, the two companies joined together to form ADAAC.
“RCSPG is not expert in arrhythmia detection and alarm systems,” said Lee Ehrlichman, chairman and CEO of Cardiac Telecom. “Just as the RCSPG is in the best position to represent Holter and event monitors, so is ADAAC in the best position to accurately represent our technology.”
ADAAC will be open to all qualified manufacturers of arrhythmia detection and alarm system devices.
About CardioNet
CardioNet is a leading provider of ambulatory, wireless, real-time arrhythmia monitoring, having provided services to more than 70,000 patients nationwide. The company has invested more than $84 million and seven years developing its medical devices and 24-hour monitoring service center. Of that amount, it has invested over $40 million developing its proprietary integrated patient-monitoring platform that incorporates a wireless data transmission network, internally developed software, and FDA-cleared algorithms. CardioNet was recently named one of “50 medical companies to watch” by Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry magazine.
On March 13, 2007, CardioNet announced the completion of its acquisition of PDSHeart, Inc., a leading provider of cardiac monitoring services. It provides physician-prescribed remote and ambulatory care monitoring of asymptomatic and symptomatic arrhythmia detection via landline, cellular telephone, and the Internet. PDSHeart’s WebHolter® is the industry’s first Web-based digital Holter monitoring system. PDSHeart provides monitoring services to approximately 150,000 patients in 49 U.S. states. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
PDSHeart operates as a subsidiary of CardioNet, with its corporate offices in West Palm Beach, Florida. CardioNet’s corporate headquarters is located in San Diego, California. The combined company has monitoring centers in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Florida, and Georgia. For more information, visit www.cardionet.com or www.pdsheart.com.
About Cardiac Telecom Corp.
Cardiac Telecom Corp. is the nation’s first single source provider for cardiac monitoring services covering the patient acuity chain from 24/48 hour Holter to 30 day event monitoring through its groundbreaking outpatient telemetry service Telemetry@Home. The company supplies a one-stop-shop, fully integrated approach to outpatient cardiac monitoring with products and services to physicians and their patients in need of cardiac monitoring and those patients with difficult to diagnose arrhythmias. The company was founded by Dr. Alois Langer the co-inventor of the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Dr. Langer was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2002 for his work on the ICD. Cardiac Telecom is headquartered in Greensburg, PA.
|
|
|
|
|
|
