The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently released a proposed decision memo stating that it believes there is evidence sufficient to support the use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for diagnosing and treating hypertension in its beneficiaries.
The agency laid out circumstances for reimbursement coverage, including white coat hypertension verified through at least two separate clinic or office visits with separate measurements three months apart or suspected masked hypertension, measured similarly.
To qualify for coverage, the devices must be quality certified and validated for use in the intended patient population, capable of producing standardized plots of blood pressure measurements for 24 hours, include written and oral instructions and be read by treating physicians or a treating non-physician practitioner, according toe the release.
CMS said that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring will be covered once a year, and that other indications for it would come at the discretion of the Medicare Administrative Contractors.
The agency said that it is seeking comments on the proposed decision, and that it will respond to public comments in a final decision memorandum, according to the release.