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As a result of recently relaxed Medicare coverage restrictions, increasing numbers of patients with end-stage heart failure are receiving ventricular assist devices. However, little is known about the long-term patient outcomes and costs associated with these devices outside clinical trial settings.
This analysis of inpatient claims from the Centers for Medicare Services included patients who received ventricular assist devices as primary therapy (n=1476) or after cardiotomy (n=1467) from February 1, 2000, through June 30, 2006. The main measures of interest were the cumulative incidences (accounting for censoring and competing risks) of device replacement, device removal, heart transplantation, readmission, and death. The investigators stud…