Medicare payments for ischemic stroke treatment are lagging behind costs, which may imperil stroke care in the future, according to research reported Friday at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2006. “With an average Medicare reimbursement of $6,589, hospitals lost an average of $2,100 to $3,700 for treating stroke,” said lead author Thomas Goss, PharmD, of Covance Market Access Services, Inc. The researchers calculated that patients’ hospital stays would have to be slashed almost in half to bring standard stroke care costs in line with Medicare’s reimbursement. Inadequate reimbursement will hurt efforts to adopt new technologies to treat stroke, according to study co-author David Matchar, MD, of Duke University.
