Medicare Expands Thoratec Coverage
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Thoratec Corp., a maker of mechanical devices that help the heart pump blood, won expanded coverage for a company product from Medicare.
The product, a ventricular assist device, is a motorized pump that assumes some of the work of a damaged heart.
Before the move, Medicare covered such devices only as a temporary treatment before a heart transplant or after open-heart surgery.
The program now will pay for their permanent use.
Shares of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Thoratec fell 29 cents to $16.41 on Nasdaq. They have more than doubled since the start of the year.
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