Medicare to Cover Defibrillators

Medicare officials say roughly 500,000 Medicare beneficiaries can now receive coverage for expensive implantable cardioverter defibrillators - if they agree to release details about their cases to a database shared by hospitals.

Medicare already covers the devices for patients who already have suffered possibly fatal heart rhythms. Officials decided to expand the coverage in part because evidence suggests that they save the lives of people who are at risk of, but haven't yet suffered, such episodes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is accepting public comment before a Feb. 14 forum by its Council on Technology and Innovation as it drafts guidelines on linking coverage to data collection.