New CMS Decision Provides Medicare Coverage for the Clinical Use of the Tempus ECG-AF Device
December 17 2024 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
New decision establishes reimbursement for the
clinical use of Tempus ECG-AF, reducing the financial burden of
using AI to improve early detection of atrial fibrillation
Tempus AI, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEM), a technology company leading the
adoption of AI to advance precision medicine and patient care,
today announced the impact of a new decision by the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that will allow reimbursement
for assessments of cardiac dysfunction using the Tempus ECG-AF
algorithm. ECG-AF is one of just a few FDA-authorized medical
technologies in the country to be impacted by the new CMS decision,
and this milestone allows Tempus to more broadly support clinicians
in identifying patients at increased risk of atrial
fibrillation/flutter (AF).
Per the CMS policy to allow payment for certain Software as a
Service (SaaS) devices in the Hospital Outpatient setting, CMS has
assigned associated procedure codes for assessments with assistive
algorithms like Tempus’ ECG-AF (CPT 0764T and CPT 0765T) to APC
5734, which has a Medicare rate of $128.90, effective January 1,
2025. This ruling is expected to allow hospitals to receive
reimbursement for using Tempus’ ECG-AF to help identify patients at
increased risk of AF. Earlier this year, Tempus received 510(k)
clearance from the FDA for the Tempus ECG-AF device, which was the
first FDA clearance for an AF indication in the category known as
“cardiovascular machine learning-based notification software” and
paved the way for clinicians to use this innovative algorithm in
the care of their patients.
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death
globally, making it critical to identify patients at high risk for
undiagnosed heart disease much earlier. AF, a common cause of
stroke, in particular affects millions of people and can be
challenging to diagnose. As a result, nearly one million Americans
are believed to have undetected AF, and are missing the opportunity
to be treated optimally. Since over 100 million ECGs are performed
each year in the U.S.1 there is an opportunity to make these ECG
tests “smarter” by applying machine-learning models that can detect
risk of certain heart diseases like AF. Tempus ECG-AF provides a
solution to help tackle this problem, giving clinicians an AI-based
clinical tool to help them be more proactive about earlier disease
identification and management.
“We are incredibly excited by this new Medicare ruling,” said
Brandon Fornwalt, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President of Cardiology at
Tempus. “This, combined with our FDA clearance earlier this year,
has substantially lowered the barrier for clinicians to broadly
adopt innovative technologies like ECG-AF to tackle undiagnosed
cardiovascular disease.”
The Tempus ECG-AF algorithm is intended for use to analyze
recordings of 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) devices and to detect
signs associated with a patient experiencing AF within the next 12
months. It is for use on resting 12-lead ECG recordings collected
at a healthcare facility from patients 65 years of age or older who
do not have a known history of AF or other specified conditions.
The device provides clinicians with results that should be
interpreted in conjunction with other diagnostic information,
including the patient’s original ECG recordings and other tests, as
well as the patient’s symptoms and clinical history. Tempus ECG-AF
does not describe a person’s overall risk of experiencing AF and
should not serve as the sole basis for diagnosis of AF. Results
should not be used as the basis for treatment of AF and are not
intended to rule out AF follow-up. More details on the Tempus
ECG-AF technology can be found here.
About Tempus
Tempus is a technology company advancing precision medicine
through the practical application of artificial intelligence in
healthcare. With one of the world’s largest libraries of multimodal
data, and an operating system to make that data accessible and
useful, Tempus provides AI-enabled precision medicine solutions to
physicians to deliver personalized patient care and in parallel
facilitates discovery, development and delivery of optimal
therapeutics. The goal is for each patient to benefit from the
treatment of others who came before by providing physicians with
tools that learn as the company gathers more data. For more
information, visit tempus.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, about Tempus and Tempus’ industry
that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements
other than statements of historical facts contained in this press
release are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited
to, statements regarding the potential for Tempus’ ECG-AF device to
support physicians and clinicians in finding patients who are at
risk for cardiovascular disease and conditions earlier; the
expected benefits of such earlier identification of patients;
Tempus’ belief that patients at the risk of AF are underdiagnosed
and undertreated; and AF-related patient population; and
suitability of claim submission for any specific patient; decisions
made by CMS regarding coverage, coding, or reimbursement for use of
the ECG-AF device. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking
statements because they contain words such as “anticipate,”
“believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,”
“expect,” “going to,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,”
“predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” or “would” or the
negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions.
Tempus cautions you that the foregoing may not include all of the
forward-looking statements made in this press release.
You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions
of future events. Tempus has based the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release primarily on its current
expectations and projections about future events and trends that it
believes may affect Tempus’ business, financial condition, results
of operations and prospects. These forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties related to: Tempus’ financial
performance; the ability to attract and retain customers and
partners; managing Tempus’ growth and future expenses; competition
and new market entrants; compliance with new laws, regulations and
executive actions, including any evolving regulations in the
artificial intelligence space; the ability to maintain, protect and
enhance Tempus’ intellectual property; the ability to attract and
retain qualified team members and key personnel; the ability to
repay or refinance outstanding debt, or to access additional
financing; future acquisitions, divestitures or investments; the
potential adverse impact of climate change, natural disasters,
health epidemics, macroeconomic conditions, and war or other armed
conflict, as well as risks, uncertainties, and other factors
described in the section titled “Risk Factors” in Tempus’ Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024 filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as well as in
other filings Tempus may make with the SEC in the future. In
addition, any forward-looking statements contained in this press
release are based on assumptions that Tempus believes to be
reasonable as of this date. Tempus undertakes no obligation to
update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect
new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except
as required by law.
1 Tison, G. H., Zhang, J., Delling, F. N., & Deo, R. C.
(2019). Automated and Interpretable Patient ECG Profiles for
Disease Detection, Tracking, and Discovery. Circulation:
Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 12(9).
https://doi.org/10.1161/circoutcomes.118.005289
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241217385462/en/
Erin Carron media@tempus.com 773-612-4414
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