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News / Headlines
Texas Legislature to Hear Heart Attack Preventive Screening Bill
on March 10, 2009
The first legislative effort to combat the number one killer could
prevent 4,300 sudden cardiac deaths and save $1.6 billion per year
in Texas.
Houston, TX (PRWEB) March 9, 2009 -- Two years ago, Texas
Representative Rene Oliveira, supported by Houston-based Society for
Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication (SHAPE)
www.shapesociety.org,
introduced a bill in the Texas Legislature that would require
insurance companies to pay for heart attack preventive screening
test. The bill, which was turned down by the insurance committee
then, is called up to an immediate hearing on March 10.
We are delighted to hear that Texas legislature surprisingly
requested an immediate hearing on the bill
This is truly groundbreaking landmark legislation, much like the
legislation for mammography
Sadly, these vulnerable patients go undetected until struck by a
heart attack, because insurance companies don't cover the newer
heart attack screening imaging tests.
It is about time that we cover preventive screening for the number
one killer in Texas, and take action to reduce healthcare costs
through preventive healthcare
Right now, we are extending the lives of those who can afford the
procedure while hundreds of thousands of Texans with hidden heart
disease go undetected because of antiquated thinking. The time has
come for this change.
"At one time, imaging technologies to look inside the body and
screen for cancer seemed like an impractical idea, but after
reimbursement approval they have become part of everyday medicine
and have saved countless lives. If this legislation passes, we
anticipate that tens of thousands of people who are completely
unaware of their severe but silent heart disease can be detected and
saved from a catastrophic heart attack by getting into intensive
treatment."
"We are very thankful for Representative Oliveira's strong
leadership in working to correct a profound failure of our
healthcare system"
These technologies are widely available, but because insurance
doesn't cover them, only people with the means to pay for the
procedures out of their own pockets can benefit from these advances.
If passed, this bill will have a monumental impact on preventive
cardiovascular healthcare that can go far beyond Texas.
"We are delighted to hear that Texas legislature surprisingly
requested an immediate hearing on the bill," said Dr. Morteza
Naghavi, founder of SHAPE and Chairman of the SHAPE Task Force who
is invited to testify at the Texas house of representative. "This is
truly groundbreaking landmark legislation, much like the legislation
for mammography," said Dr. Naghavi.
On Tuesday, March 10, 2009, Rep. Oliveira's Texas Heart Attack
Prevention Bill (identical to last session's proposal) will be heard
in the House Insurance Committee. The bill is the first legislative
effort in the United States to mandate the careful and responsible
implementation of a comprehensive heart attack risk assessment and
reduction strategy. It closely follows the SHAPE Guideline for
identification of apparently healthy individuals who have a high
risk of a near future heart attack but are unaware of their risk.
The guideline was developed by the SHAPE Task Force, an
international contingent of leading cardiovascular physicians and
researchers.
Almost all heart attacks are preceded by atherosclerosis (plaque
buildup in the arteries). Despite the availability of non-invasive
imaging tests that can detect the presence of atherosclerosis and
measure its severity, many physicians continue to rely solely upon
screening for traditional risk factors of atherosclerosis.
"Assessment of heart attack risk on the basis of traditional risk
factors alone such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure and
so forth, while useful, misses many who are at high risk and also
incorrectly flags some for high risk who are in fact at very low
risk of near term heart attack; on the other hand detection of
atherosclerosis by non-invasive imaging, as suggested by the SHAPE
group, accurately identifies plaque and improves the ability to
identify at-risk individuals who could benefit from aggressive
preventive intervention while sparing low-risk subjects from
unnecessary aggressive medical therapy," said Dr. P.K. Shah,
Director of Cardiology at Cedars Sinai Heart Institute in Los
Angeles, a leading member of the SHAPE Task Force who is also an
active member of the American Heart Association. "Sadly, these
vulnerable patients go undetected until struck by a heart attack,
because insurance companies don't cover the newer heart attack
screening imaging tests."
Rep. Oliveira discovered this problem when his insurer initially
refused to cover the heart scan that discovered plaque buildup and
prompted a heart bypass operation.
"It is about time that we cover preventive screening for the number
one killer in Texas, and take action to reduce healthcare costs
through preventive healthcare," said Representative Oliveira, a
Democrat from Brownsville, Texas. "Right now, we are extending the
lives of those who can afford the procedure while hundreds of
thousands of Texans with hidden heart disease go undetected because
of antiquated thinking. The time has come for this change."
Rep. Oliveira's bill would apply to men between ages 45 and 75, and
women between ages 55 and 75, who are at intermediate risk of a
heart attack according to their Framingham Risk Score. The bill
would require reimbursement for two types of procedures: 1) the
measurement of coronary artery calcium score (CACS) by CT and 2) the
measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and plaque by
ultrasonography. These two tests have proven to be strong predictors
of those who are vulnerable to a heart attack or stroke.
"At one time, imaging technologies to look inside the body and
screen for cancer seemed like an impractical idea, but after
reimbursement approval they have become part of everyday medicine
and have saved countless lives," said Dr. Daniel Berman, Chief of
Cardiovascular Imaging at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
and Professor of Medicine at UCLA who is also a member of the SHAPE
Task Force. "If this legislation passes, we anticipate that tens of
thousands of people who are completely unaware of their severe but
silent heart disease can be detected and saved from a catastrophic
heart attack by getting into intensive treatment."
Heart attack and stroke account for more death and disability than
all cancers combined. Unlike cancers, heart attack strikes more than
half of its victims by sudden death, leaving no opportunity for
treatment. In fact, the rates of unexpected heart attack and
out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death have remained at high levels
for the past 30 years. Multiple screening tests are approved for
asymptomatic cancers such as mammography and colonoscopy. However,
none is approved for asymptomatic atherosclerosis, which underlies
both heart attack and stroke. This void leaves many individuals -
even those with severe atherosclerosis - totally unaware of their
risk because they have no symptoms.
An analysis by the SHAPE Task Force estimates that proper screening
of these asymptomatic men and women could have the following
outcomes:
* Prevent more than 4,300 deaths from cardiovascular disease each
year in Texas (over 90,000 deaths in the U.S.).
* Reduce the Texas population with a history of heart attack -
currently estimated to be 550,000 - by as much as 25 percent.
* Save approximately $1.6 billion annually (over 21 billion in the
U.S.).
"We are very thankful for Representative Oliveira's strong
leadership in working to correct a profound failure of our
healthcare system," said Dr. Matthew Budoff, a member of the SHAPE
Task Force who is the leading author of the latest scientific
statement of American Heart Association regarding noninvasive
cardiac CT imaging. "These technologies are widely available, but
because insurance doesn't cover them, only people with the means to
pay for the procedures out of their own pockets can benefit from
these advances. If passed, this bill will have a monumental impact
on preventive cardiovascular healthcare that can go far beyond
Texas."
Atherosclerosis, a metabolic and inflammatory disease that causes
plaque build up in arteries, is responsible for nearly all cases of
heart attack and most cases of strokes. Individuals with the highest
degree of atherosclerotic plaque burden are described as "the
Vulnerable Patient." Such individuals exhibit no signs of heart
disease and are not identified as very-high-risk by traditional risk
factor assessment. Representative Oliveira's bill is designed to
identify this population and get them the treatment needed to extend
their lives.
About SHAPE:
Originated from the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the Society for
Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication (SHAPE) is a non-profit
organization founded by Dr. Morteza Naghavi, a former faculty of the
Texas Heart Institute and the University of Texas in Houston. The
mission of SHAPE is to promote education and research related to
mechanism, prevention, detection, and treatment of heart attacks.
The organization is committed to raising public awareness about
recent revolutionary discoveries that opened exciting new avenues to
prevent heart attack. The SHAPE's mission is to eradicate heart
attacks in the 21st century. Additional information is available on
the organization's Web site at
www.shapesociety.org or call 1-877-SHAPE11.
About SHAPE Task Force :
Chairman: Morteza Naghavi, M.D. Editorial Committee: Prediman K.
Shah, M.D. (Chief); (alphabetic order): Raymond Bahr, M.D., Daniel
Berman, M.D., Roger Blumenthal, M.D., Matthew J. Budoff, M.D., Jay
Cohn, M.D., Erling Falk, M.D., Ph.D., Ole Faergeman, M.D., Zahi
Fayad, Ph.D., Harvey S. Hecht, M.D., Wolfgang Koenig, M.D., Ph.D.,
Daniel Lane, M.D., Ph.D., Morteza Naghavi, M.D., John Rumberger,
M.D., Ph.D., Allen J. Taylor, M.D. Writing Group: Erling Falk, M.D.,
Ph.D. (Coordinator); (alphabetic order): Juhani Airaksinen, M.D.,
Dan Arking, Ph.D., Juan Badimon, Ph.D., Raymond Bahr, M.D., Daniel
Berman, M.D., Matthew J. Budoff, M.D., Jay Cohn, M.D., Jasenka
Demirovic, M.D., Ph.D., George A. Diamond, M.D., Pamela Douglas,
M.D., Ole Faergeman, M.D., Zahi Fayad, Ph.D., James A. Goldstein,
M.D., Harvey S. Hecht, M.D., Victoria L.M. Herrera, M.D., Sanjay
Kaul, M.D., M.P.H., Wolfgang Koenig, M.D., Ph.D., Robert A. Mendes,
M.D., Morteza Naghavi, M.D.; Tasneem Z. Naqvi, M.D., Ward A. Riley,
Ph.D., Yoram Rudy, PhD, John Rumberger, M.D., Ph.D., Leslee Shaw,
Ph.D., Robert S. Schwartz, M.D., Arturo G. Touchard, M.D. Advisors
(alphabetic order): Arthur Agagston, M.D., Stephane Carlier, M.D.,
Ph.D., Raimund Erbel, M.D., Chris deKorte, Ph.D., Craig Hartley,
Ph.D., Ioannis Kakadiaris, Ph.D., Roxana Mehran, M.D., Ralph
Metcalfe, Ph.D., Daniel O'Leary, M.D., Jan Nilsson, M.D., Gerard
Pasterkamp, M.D., Ph.D., Paul Schoenhagen, M.D., Henrik Sillesen,
M.D., Ph.D.
A comprehensive and detailed scientific report of the SHAPE Task
Force is currently in press by Humana Press (Springer).
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