Cleveland HeartLab LLC Presents Research Demonstrating Its Prognostic Tests Can Save $180 Million In Healthcare Costs Related To Cardiovascular Disease, The Number One Killer Of Men And Women In The U.S.

CLEVELAND, June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cleveland HeartLab (CHL), a premier cardiovascular disease (CVD) management company, will present new research today at the International Society of PharmacoEconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Annual Meeting that demonstrates substantial costs savings for U.S. health plans through the addition of cardiovascular inflammatory testing to standard cholesterol testing. The study shows that averting mortality and morbidity from myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke (IS)through the use of routine testing of multi-tiered cardiovascular risk markers of vascular inflammationcan save the U.S. healthcare system at least $180 million, but likely much more. This research was generated in collaboration with a team of expert economists from the Analysis Group, a leading health economics consultancy.

The results of the research suggest that for a commercially insured U.S. health plan with one million members, implementing routine testing with CHL multi-tiered cardiovascular risk markers, specifically Myeloperoxidase, Lp-Pla2 and hsCRP, can decrease non-fatal MI events by 2,018 and non-fatal IS events by 1,848, resulting in $180.6 million in cost savings over five years.

The poster presentation, "The Economic Impact of Implementing a Multiple Inflammatory Biomarker-Based Approach to Identify, Treat, and Reduce Cardiovascular Risk," was accepted for presentation at the prestigious ISPOR 19^th Annual Meeting to be held May 31-June 4, 2014 in Montreal, Canada. This economic model, which will be presented today, Monday, June 2, is the first of its kind to quantify the potential economic and clinical benefits of more accurately stratifying near-term cardiovascular risk through use of multiple inflammatory biomarker tests.

"Traditional methods for assessing and mitigating risk are insufficient and may misclassify an individual's actual risk of a heart attack and death," said Marc Penn, M.D., Ph.D., FACC, Director of Research at Summa Cardiovascular Institute, Professor of Integrative Medical Sciences at Northeast Ohio Medical University and Chief Medical Officer of CHL. "Routine inflammation testing helps identify individuals with previously unidentified risk so that steps can be taken to decrease vascular inflammation, improve their state of wellness and lower their risk of a heart attack and death."

This position is supported by data from the American Heart Association, which reports that 50 percent of all heart attacks and strokes occur in individuals with normal cholesterol and that, for approximately 30 percent of patients with cardiovascular disease, the first sign of disease is death.

"By more accurately assessing an individual's near-term cardiovascular risk, healthcare providers can deploy resources more strategically," said Jake Orville, President and Chief Executive Officer of CHL. "The model demonstrates that multi-marker inflammation testing not only can avert predictable CVD events and save lives, it can also help reduce the enormous cost burden of acute heart attack and stroke, which is the single most costly item in the nation's healthcare budget."

"We launched Cleveland HeartLab to make innovative inflammation testing a standard component of routine CVD risk assessment to help identify and prevent cardiovascular events in patients who were previously not known to have risk," Dr. Penn added. "We're very excited to report that the results of this collaboration demonstrate that along with improving outcomes, our approach can lead to a significant decrease in healthcare costs."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the total costs of cardiovascular diseases in the United States in 2010 exceeded $444 billion. Treatment of these diseases accounts for about $1 of every $6 spent on healthcare in this country. As the U.S. population ages, the economic impact of cardiovascular diseases on our nation's healthcare system will become even greater.

With an impressive list of presenters at ISPOR, CHL and Analysis Group join industry leaders at this forum to share research in health economics and patient health outcomes as well as facilitate the translation of this research into useful information for healthcare decision makers. More information on the conference can be found at http://www.ispor.org/.

About Cleveland HeartLab
Cleveland HeartLab Inc. is the premier cardiovascular disease (CVD) management company with an array of propriety tests focused on more accurately identifying CVD risk. In addition to its industry leading approach to inflammation testing, CHL maintains a robust research and development program focused on bringing the next generation of CVD biomarkers to market. Spun out of The Cleveland Clinic in 2009, CHL offers its testing to thousands of leading clinicians focused on health and wellness as well as corporate wellness plans through its CAP-accredited and CLIA-certified clinical laboratory. Half of all patients who suffer from heart attack have normal cholesterol at the time of heart attack. CHL believes this is because cholesterol alone does not reveal a complete CVD risk profile. CHL's unique testing provides better identification of CVD risk allowing clinicians to deploy proper medical programs to reduce the overall risk of CVD and specifically inflammation risk within their patient populations. CHL holds over 20 issued and 30 pending global patents and has been recognized for its innovation by receiving the prestigious Nortech Innovation Award, The Ohio Venture of the Year Award and the Edison Crystal Award for Excellence. For more information about CHL visit us at www.clevelandheartlab.com. For more information on CVD visit www.knowyourrisk.com

About Analysis Group
With more than 500 professionals with advanced degrees and expertise in health outcomes research, epidemiology, strategy, biostatistics, economics, and other quantitative disciplines, Analysis Group (www.analysisgroup.com) has established a leadership role in the science, economics, and business strategy of the global health care industry. The firm's 11 offices are located in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Menlo Park, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC; and internationally in Montreal and Beijing.

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SOURCE Cleveland HeartLab