BERLIN, Germany, January 15, 2014 – BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® significantly reduces the cost of follow-up in patients with implantable defibrillators ( ICDs ). New data from the ECOST (Effectiveness and Cost o f ICD Follow-Up Schedule with Telecardiology) study show remote monitoring saves the French National Health Insurance system costs, in addition to being safe and efficient.
Over a 27-month follow-up period, ambulatory costs were significantly reduced, while hospital costs were not significantly different. Adding ICD costs to ambulatory costs, the savings generated by BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® amounted to €315 per patient per year , including the cost of the remote monitoring service.
“These new results show that the re mote monitoring of ICD patients saves costs in addition to improving patient care and optimizing the use of health care resources”, commented Dr. Guedon-Moreau of the Centre Hospitalier Regional at the University of Lille, France. “The main results of the ECOST study, 2 published in February 2013, proved an undeniably good safety benefit, ” said Prof. Kacet, also of the Centre Hospitalier Regional. “ Using BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® reduced the number of patients wi th inappropriate shocks by 52% and the risk of hospitalization re lated to those shocks by 72%.”
ECOST was a prospective multicenter clinical trial designed to examine the safety and efficacy of remote monitoring of ICD patients with BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® . The study analyzed 433 patients from 43 sites throughout France who were randomly assigned to remote monitoring follow-up or standard in-office care. The 221 remote monitoring patients - the active group - were seen in the ambulatory department once a year, unless remote monitoring reported a technical or clinical event requiring an in-office visit. The 212 control group patients underw ent in-office visits every six months.
Costs were calculated using the Fr ench National Health Insurance fund’s actual billings, and consider hospital costs for the management of cardiovascular disorders and am bulatory costs including costs related to device management an d other ambulatory costs. By reducing shocks, BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® has a positive impact on battery life, meaning devices need to be replaced less frequently. 3 The cost savings shown in the 27 -month study are expected to increase over time.
Savings can be used to reimburse physician services
The economic analysis of the ECOST study did not take into account physician fees for remote monitoring , as they are not yet reimbursed by the French National Health Insurance syst em. French authorities are currently negotiating how to reimburse physicians for remote follow-ups. The expenses saved by BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® should be reallocated to adequately reimburse remote physician services. In this way, BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® offers improved patient care at no additional cost to the French health care system.
“In addition to the manifest econ omic benefits of BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® , numerous studies have been published over the past few years confirming its clinical and safety benefits. The results of the IN-TIME study , recently presented at the Euro pean Society of Cardiologists’ 2013 conference, rein force these exce llent clinical outcomes by, for the first time, demonstrating a reduction in mortality due to BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® ,” commented Christoph Böhmer, President Inte rnational of BIOTRONIK. “The European Society of Cardiology’s recent recommendation for using implant bas ed remote monitoring in dicates that remote monitoring will play an even greate r role in the future.”
About BIOTRONIK
One of the world’s leading manufacturers of cardio- and endovascular medical devices, BIOTRONIK is he adquartered in Berlin, Germany, and represented in over 100 countries by its global workforce of more than 5600 employees. Several milli on patients have received BIOTRONIK implants designed to save and improve the quality of their lives, or have been treated with BIOTRONIK coronary and peripheral vascular intervention pr oducts. Since its development of the first German pacemaker in 1963, BIOTRONIK has engineered many innovations, including BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring ® ; the world’s first 4 F-compatible 200mm peripheral stent; Orsiro, the industry’s first hybrid drug-eluti ng stent; and the world’s first implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and heart failure therapy devices with ProMRI ® technology.
For more information, visit: www.biotronik.com
References
1 Guedon-Moreau et al. Europace Forthcoming 2014.
2 Guedon-Moreau et al. Eur. Heart J 2013. See also TRUST trial: Varma et al. Circulation 2010.
3 Guedon-Moreau et al. Eur. Heart J 2013.
Contact:
Manuela Schildwächter
Communications & PR Manager
BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG
Woermannkehre 1
12359 Berlin
Tel. +49 (0) 30 68905 1466
Email: manuela.schildwaechter@biotronik.com
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