Agreed! I would not argue that the patients that ZOLL is trying to identify for primary prevention are incorrect, rather the time interval (AKA CMS waiting period) is too short for enough events to occur to make the LifeVest a valuable tool for physicians!
The high cost for the low save rate is the issue.
Everyone entertain me for a bit:
If every insurance company paid $1,000 for each patient that has worn the LifeVest (in most cases it's more then that...double perhaps), that equals $150,014,000 to "save" 2041 lives. Yes I am sure those families that truly did have a loved one saved are grateful, but paying ~$300,000,000 to accomplish that is simply too much!
Also, factoring in the copays from the patients, it is probably in the ballpark of ~$400,000,000 to save 2041 lives...
