The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 11 , Pages 975-976 , November 2009

Medicare's New Regulations for Deep Vein Thrombosis as a “Never Event”: Wise or Worrisome?

  • Juwono L. Sutedjo, MD

      Affiliations

    • University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester
    • ,
  • Roger K. Ng, MD

      Affiliations

    • University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester
    • ,
  • Gregory Piazza, MD

      Affiliations

    • Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass
    • ,
  • Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD

      Affiliations

    • Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass
    • Corresponding Author InformationRequests for reprints should be addressed to Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115

References 

  1. Office of the Surgeon General. The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/deepvein/Accessed December 8, 2008
  2. MacDougall DA, Feliu AL, Boccuzzi SJ, Lin J. Economic burden of deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and post-thrombotic syndrome. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2006;63:S5–S15
  3. Kahn SR, Shrier I, Julian JA, et al. Determinants and time course of the postthrombotic syndrome after acute deep venous thrombosis. Ann Intern Med. 2008;149:698–707
  4. Condliffe R, Kiely DG, Gibbs JR, et al. Prognostic and aetiological factors in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Eur Respir J. 2009;33:332–337
  5. Lang IM, Klepetko W. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: an updated review. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2008;23:555–559
  6. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, HHS. Medicare program: changes to the hospital inpatient prospective payment systems and fiscal year 2009 rates; payments for graduate medical education in certain emergency situations; changes to disclosure of physician ownership in hospitals and physician self-referral rules; updates to the long-term care prospective payment system; updates to certain IPPS-excluded hospitals; and collection of information regarding financial relationships between hospitals (Final rules). Fed Regist. 2008;73:48433–49084
  7. Kim YH, Oh SH, Kim JS. Incidence and natural history of deep-vein thrombosis after total hip arthroplasty (A prospective and randomised clinical study). J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2003;85:661–665
  8. Adams RC, Hamrick M, Berenguer C, et al. Four years of an aggressive prophylaxis and screening protocol for venous thromboembolism in a large trauma population. J Trauma. 2008;65:300–306
  9. Freedman KB, Brookenthal KR, Fitzgerald RH, et al. A meta-analysis of thromboembolic prophylaxis following elective total hip arthroplasty. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2000;82A:929–938
  10. Geerts WH, Bergqvist D, Pineo GF, et al. Prevention of venous thromboembolism: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines. (8th Edition) Chest. 2008;133:381S–453S
  11. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Physician Work Group. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Clinical Guideline on Prevention of Symptomatic Pulmonary Embolism in Patients Undergoing Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons). http://www.aaos.org/research/guidelines/PE_guideline.pdfAccessed February 21, 2009
  12. Eikelboom JW, Karthikeyan G, Fagel N, Hirsh J. American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons and American College of Chest Physicians guidelines for venous thromboembolism prevention in hip and knee arthroplasty differ: what are the implications for clinicians and patients?. Chest. 2009;135:513–520
  13. Cardiovascular Disease Educational and Research Trust, Cyprus Cardiovascular Disease Educational and Research Trust, European Venous Forum, International Surgical Thrombosis Forum, International Union of Angiology, Union Internationale de Phlebologie. Prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism (International Consensus Statement (guidelines according to scientific evidence)). Int Angiol. 2006;25:101–161
  14. Pronovost PJ, Goeschel CA, Wachter RM. The wisdom and justice of not paying for “preventable complications”. JAMA. 2008;299:2197–2199
  15. Streiff MB, Haut ER. The CMS ruling on venous thromboembolism after total knee or hip arthroplasty: weighing risks and benefits. JAMA. 2009;301:1063–1065

 Funding: Dr. Goldhaber was supported, in part, by an unrestricted grant from Sanofi-Aventis. Drs. Sutedjo, Ng, and Piazza report no outside support for their work on this project.

 Conflict of Interest: None.

 Authorship: All authors had access to the data and participated in writing this manuscript.

PII: S0002-9343(09)00575-0

doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.04.019

The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 11 , Pages 975-976 , November 2009

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