Coumadin study

[Herb M]

There is an interesting article on the results of monitoring the anticoagulation levels of people with the St. Jude mechanical valve. Among some of the conclusions is that complications are very low and that people who do home monitoring fare better. The article is at: http://famulus.msnbc.com/famuluscom/businesswire12-20-135132.asp?sym=STJ

[Christina]

Thanks Herb, I am going to fax this to my doctor. I think he'd like to read this article and pass it on to other patients who are considering home testing.

Christina
Protime Hometester
AVR's 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's Mechanical

[Herb M]

I have previously read items about the Medicare intention to fund for homet testing and this new article repeats this intention. As far as I know, Medicare has not yet issued any directive on this. Also it is not clear if Medicare will fund the cost of the equipment or only the supplies. If anyone has further info on this, please let us know.

[allodwick]

As I understand it Medicare intends to cover the cost of the testing but not the purchase of the machine.

I also do not think that the lifescan one is on the market yet.