CARDIAC EVENT MONITORS

FIRST CALL MEDICAL



FREE USE OF OUR HOLTERS & CARDIAC EVENT MONITORS



First Call CEM Monitor

Depending on what you want - we have it

WE HAVE DIFFERENT KINDS FOR YOU, DEPENDING ON YOUR NEED

WHY YOU NEED A CARDIAC EVENT MONITOR (CEM) IN YOUR PRACTICE?

Physicians using 24 or 48 hour holters find that more than 70% of these patients will not have an event during the time they are being monitored. Events can be several days apart. Insurance carriers pay for cardiac event monitoring when necessary. When holters are non diagnostic, the next logical step is to use a 30 day CEM.

WHAT IF YOU DON'T HAVE A HOLTER MONITOR?


We will provide a holter for your office whenever necessary, at no charge. If you're referring at least one patient a week, we'll loan you a holter to keep in your office. If your need is less, just give our lab a call and we'll send it 2nd day aire - again at no charge to you. You can send it to us through the net and have your results in minutes instead of days.

WHAT DO THE REPORTS LOOK LIKE?

Digital Holter Monitor

Our first priority is to save the patient lives and to get quality usable data to the physician immediately.

WHY DOES DON RECOMMEND YOU USE A HOLTER ON DIABETIC PATIENTS BEFORE USING A CEM?

Patients with diabetes are more likely to suffer from neuropathy and autonomic neuropathy - thereby making it less likely they will "feel" a heart attack. This is called silent ischemia. The American Heart Association reports some of the following on their website at: www.americanheart.org

"Asian Americans such as Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese should be aware that the first sign of an impending heart attack is typically not the chest pain of angina, but more typically, symptoms of shortness of breath, easy fatigability or fast heart rate" This quote was found at: www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3012678

The American Heart Association estimates that three to four million Americans have episodes of silent ischemia. People who have had previous heart attacks or those who have diabetes are especially at risk for developing silent ischemia. Heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy) caused by silent ischemia is among the more common causes of heart failure in the United States.



"Among "treadmill-positive" subjects, diabetic patients had a prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia that was 2.2 times higher than that in nondiabetic control subjects (p less than 0.05). Diabetic patients who received insulin had a 2.6 times higher prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia than those who did not (p less than 0.05). Similarly diabetic patients with retinopathy has a 2.5 times higher prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia than those without it (p less than 0.05)." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1729850&dopt=Abstract

"Heart disease is the leading cause of death for the nearly 16 million Americans with type 2 diabetes -- whose risk is two to four times that of the general population". For more information, contact: Lili Gordon, Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging, 800-599-5744 ext. 8924, or lili.a.gordon@bms.com. Article Date: 09/30/2002

So, our adviceis to always put a 24 or 48 hour holter on the diabetic patient prior to using a 30 day patient activated monitor. If the patient has autonomic neuropathy, they may not feel the pain in the chest to indicate a silent ischemia, while it is our belief that the 24/48 hour holter will give you the data you need.


I'M PRIMARY CARE - WHY NOT REFER THE PATIENT TO A CARDIOLOGIST?

¨ There are 4 reasons we believe you should have a holter & a CEM in your practice.

  • How long does the patient wait for an appointment with the cardiologist in your town? 1 week? 2 weeks? 3 weeks or more? How many life threatening events may be missed during this time?

  • How many times do you refer a patient to the cardiologist and it's not cardiac related?

  • When you do refer the patient, wouldn't you rather it be a quality referral, where you could send a report to the cardiologist, instead of the cardiologist having to order one?

  • Do you realize you may be losing up to $800 in insurance reimbursements by not utilizing our FREE CEMs in your office?


    WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE CARDIAC EVENT MONITOR (CEM)?

    We supply a 30 Day Patient Activated Cardiac Event Monitor (CEM) CEM for your office and train your staff on it's use.


    Doctor determines patient needs a CEM (click here to see ICD9 listing)

    Your nurse hooks the pager sized CEM up to the patient

    Two days later, another CEM is delivered to your office.



    CEM Monitor 2

    WHAT DOES THE PATIENT DO?


    The patient wears the patient activated monitor for up to 30 days. When an event occurs (palpitations, syncope, jaw pain, chest pain, indigestion, gastric pain, tingling, etc), they

  • Simply press the button on the pager sized CEM unit.

  • Call the toll free number.

  • If our cardiac lab technician determines the patient is having a critical event, they dispatch 911 (we never tell a patient to drive themselves).

  • If there is no apparent emergency, the tech has the patient transmit the EKG strip over the phone

  • The technician analyzes the strip and makes a determination as to whether the event is critical. If not, they instruct the patient to reset the unit and call back if they have another event.

  • The technician then either faxes, emails or mails the report to the physician (depending on the protocol we use or the physician requests to be adapted).

  • At the end of the 30 day period, all tracings are sent to the physician with a report.

    YOUR BILLING:

    You bill the insurance carrier using code 93270 for the hookup ($165) & and code 93272 for the 30 days of CEM interpretations ($795). Most carriers will pay from $450 to $700, while Medicare's payment is usually only around $75.

    THE CATCH

    (there has to be one, doesn't there?)

    * You do not rent the equipment

    * You do not lease the equipment

    * You do not buy the equipment

    * You do not own the equipment

    HOW DO I GET OUT OF THE AGREEMENT?

    Very simple - if you ever wish to stop utilizing our service, send us a fax saying so & drop your monitors in the mail to the lab. We always pay all postage. You have NO financial obligation on your part at all.

    WHAT'S NEXT?

    Simply send us an email saying you're interested in using these life saving devices on your patient and we'll get you set up

    Yes - We are paid by the insurance carriers for the lab technical component. You are paid on the professional & hookup component. The patient receives excellent 24/7 monitoring.

    Don Self, CSS, BFMA

    Don Self & Associates, Inc.
    PO BOX 2610
    LINDALE, TX 75771

    Phone: 903 882-4023
    Fax: 903 882-4027

    donself@donself.com

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