Expanded coverage for warfarin patients in the USA monitoring clotting time at home.

摘要

Medicare will now cover and pay for meter training, equipment and supplies for all long-term warfarin users in the USA who monitor their prothrombin time at home with a portable handheld meter. The change opens the door to greater convenience and potentially fewer complications for a broader spectrum of anticoagulation patients. Medicare previously reimbursed these expenses for only self-testing patients who had mechanical heart valves. The new coverage expands to include those on anticoagulant medication with chronic atrial fibrillation and venous thromboem-bolism.