Silk Road Medical recently announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), through collaboration with the Society of Vascular Surgery’s Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO) and their Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI), has expanded coverage for transcarotid artery revascularisation (TCAR) to include standard surgical risk patients within the VQI’s TCAR Surveillance Project (TSP).
This decision is effective immediately and comes on the heels of the recent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for expanded indications for the Enroute transcarotid stent system to include patients at high risk and standard risk for adverse events from carotid endarterectomy (CEA).
“This CMS coverage expansion ensures that many more carotid artery disease patients who require treatment have the opportunity to benefit from the minimally invasive approach that our TCAR system offers,” said Erica Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Silk Road Medical. “We are grateful to the teams at the FDA, CMS, and SVS for their valuable collaboration and partnership in recognizing the weight of real-world evidence supporting TCAR use in this expanded patient population and the necessity of working to prevent the debilitating impacts of stroke on individuals, their families, and the health system as a whole.”
The TCAR Surveillance Project is a prospective, national, open ended observational registry designed to monitor the safety and effectiveness of transcarotid stents placed directly into the carotid artery while reversing blood flow within the carotid artery to reduce stroke risk. Hospitals and physicians participating in the TCAR Surveillance Project can obtain reimbursement for TCAR procedures by submitting claims under the National Clinical Trial number NCT02850588. Reimbursement for TCAR within the TSP will now apply to Medicare beneficiaries who are deemed to be at high risk and standard risk for adverse events from CEA.
“With substantial real-world evidence of over 45,000 procedures performed to date with compelling clinical and patient benefits, TCAR has become the less invasive standard in stroke prevention treatment options,” said Sumaira Macdonald, executive medical director of Silk Road Medical. “The expanded coverage and access are encouraging for patients looking for a reliable, minimally invasive treatment option for carotid disease regardless of their surgical risk classification.”
