Medicare continues to undervalue lifesaving stroke surgery

Despite thrombectomy’s high success rate in saving the lives of stroke patients, Medicare is paying lower rates over time for the procedure, according to research presented today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery’s (SNIS) 21st Annual Meeting. Three studies, “The Price of Progress—Evaluating Medicare’s Valuation of Stroke Treatment,” “Fiscal Clots in the Stream of Stroke Care: The Mechanical Thrombectomy Reimbursement Dilemma,” and “From Coast to Coast—the Uneven Spread of Lifesaving Stroke Interventions” highlight worsening Medicare reimbursement rates and their potential impact on the availability of thrombectomy. The first two studies analyzed publicly available data from 34,696 thrombectomy procedures performed between Read More