In October 2019 both Blue Shield of California, a health plan that covers approximately 3.7 million lives, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Plan, a health plan that covers approximately 5.3 million lives, updated their policies to include Itamar Medical’s WatchPAT based on the PAT technology with oximetry and actigraphy, as a covered home sleep apnea diagnostic test. This inclusion of WatchPAT and PAT technology follows an assessment of Diagnosis and Medical Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome recently released by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Evidence Street.
Itamar Medical also announced that changes in the release of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2020 Fee Schedule are expected to continue to support and expand the broad use of its WatchPAT technology.
“The inclusion of WatchPAT as a recommended test for sleep apnea in the BCBS Evidence Street assessment is an important validation of the clinical value that Itamar’s PAT technology provides,” says Gilad Glick, president and CEO of Itamar Medical, in a release. “We believe that the Evidence Street assessment recommendation will result in expanded BCBS plan coverage and that this expanded coverage, combined with the recently announced CMS Fee Schedule changes, will drive further adoption and market share of WatchPAT.”
