ICD Registry

Medicare provides coverage for implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) for certain clinical indications. Detailed descriptions of the covered indications are available in the National Coverage Determination (NCD).

As described in the NCD, indications for the primary prevention of sudden cardiac arrest require that data be reported on patients receiving ICDs. In January 2005, CMS established the ICD Abstraction Tool through the Quality Network Exchange (QNet) as a temporary data collection mechanism. On October 27, 2005, CMS announced that the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry (ACC-NCDR) ICD Registry satisfies the data reporting requirements in the NCD. Hospitals will need to transition to the ACC-NCDR ICD Registry by April 2006.