One of the roles of the ACC’s Payer Advocacy Team is to review and comment on commercial payer medical coverage policies. The team is responsible for gathering input from ACC clinical experts and crafting this input into detailed comment letters. A new report from WellPoint on ACC efforts over the last year highlights the success of these communications. According to the report, coverage policies were revised in all 13 instances where the College provided comments. The policies covered:

• Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) with or without an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (CRT/ICD) for the Treatment of Heart Failure
• Selected Antiarrhythmics including dronedarone (Multaq®) and amiodarone (Nexterone®)
• Selected Agents for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (HoFH)
• Holter Monitors
• Lomitapide (Juxtapid™)
• Open and Thoracoscopic Approaches to Treat Atrial Fibrillation (Maze and Related Procedures)
• Wearable Cardioverter–Defibrillators as a Bridge to Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillator Placement
• Myocardial Sympathetic Innervation Imaging with or without Single‐ Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)
• Coronary Artery Imaging: Contrast‐ Enhanced Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA), Coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Wearable Cardioverter–Defibrillators [Resent for focused clinical input on use of wearable cardioverter–defibrillators for high–risk patients awaiting heart transplantation.]
• Therapeutic Apheresis
• Agents for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
• Therapeutic Apheresis (Focused)

Clinical Topics: Arrhythmias and Clinical EP, Cardiac Surgery, Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Dyslipidemia, Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies, Invasive Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention, Noninvasive Imaging, Prevention, Pulmonary Hypertension and Venous Thromboembolism, Vascular Medicine, Implantable Devices, SCD/Ventricular Arrhythmias, Cardiac Surgery and Arrhythmias, Cardiac Surgery and Heart Failure, Lipid Metabolism, Nonstatins, Novel Agents, Primary Hyperlipidemia, Acute Heart Failure, Heart Transplant, Pulmonary Hypertension, Interventions and Imaging, Interventions and Vascular Medicine, Angiography, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Nuclear Imaging, Hypertension

Keywords: Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon, Hyperlipoproteinemia Type II, Heart Transplantation, Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy, Benzimidazoles, Heart Failure, Hypertension, Pulmonary, Blood Component Removal, Defibrillators, Implantable, Magnetic Resonance Angiography

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