The U.S. Department of Justice sent an Aug. 30 memo to hospitals with a rubric for determining whether an implantable cardioverter defibrillator was justifiably implanted, bringing to a close a nettlesome saga in the annals of cardiology. The memo gives hospitals some leeway in previous use of ICDs outside of Medicare's guidelines, an outcome that was predicted earlier this year by a physician involved in the discussions with DoJ. The news is not expected to take a large bite out of ICD sales according to an Aug. 31 statement by Wells Fargo (WF; New York), however. Read More
