Itamar Medical Ltd. (TASE:ITMR) has obtained US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) coverage for the company's WatchPAT ambulatory sleep-related breathing disorders monitor.
Itamar Medical's share jumped 15.5% by mid-afternoon to NIS 15.80, giving a market cap of NIS 53 million.
CMS did not state the amount of the reimbursement. Itamar Medical said that it believes that the amount of reimbursement will materially affect the effectiveness of the decision.
Considering the fact that, until now, the company has had no insurance backing, the CMS decision means that a person covered can be reimbursed for using the WatchPAT as a diagnostic tool. Until now, CMS only covered costs of sleep disorder diagnostic tests conducted at sleep laboratories.
The CMS announcement is good new for Itamar Medical. The company posted NIS 6.3 million revenue in January-September 2008, mostly from WatchPAT sales.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 11, 2009
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