Significant Decision Gives Patients Better Access to LipoScience's Heart Disease Test

News | 12. 02. 2005

LipoScience

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a Medicare reimbursement rate for CPT code 83704, a new code that describes the main component of the NMR LipoProfile® test. This test is used to help identify patients at risk for heart disease and determine optimal cardiovascular drug therapy. Earlier this year, the American Medical Association's (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel established a unique Category I code, 83704, described as "the quantitation of lipoprotein particle numbers and lipoprotein subclasses when measured (e.g. nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy)." The establishment of a new code and a CMS payment rate are key steps in making new medical technologies more widely available to patients.