Medicare Administrative Contractors to Extend Coverage of AI Coronary Plaque Analysis

Oct. 15, 2024 – Elucid has announced that four of the seven Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will extend coverage for AI-enabled quantitative coronary plaque analysis, including its FDA-cleared PlaqueIQ image analysis software, beginning Nov. 24, 2024.

The updated policy will allow for Medicare patients whose claims are administered within the four MACs who present with acute or stable chest pain and no known history of cardiovascular disease to be assessed with AI-enabled plaque imaging software that can help physicians accurately diagnose and potentially personalize treatment for cardiovascular disease.

“In the United States, one person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease. The most common cause of death and disability, CAD is largely driven by myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke caused by atherosclerosis," said Nehal Mehta, MD MSCE, cardiologist and professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine. "The decision by four of the seven Medicare Administrative Contractors to extend coverage for Elucid's PlaqueIQ image analysis software expands its value as a tool to help physicians identify coronary artery disease — and the plaque that can lead to it — in a non-invasive manner. The sooner these plaques are detected, the sooner effective therapies to prevent plaque rupture can be started."

Elucid’s PlaqueIQ is FDA-cleared non-invasive software that can objectively quantify and classify plaque morphology based on ground-truth histology, the gold standard for characterization of plaques. PlaqueIQ is designed to give physicians new, clinically validated information to help stratify patients and inform patient-specific treatment pathways.

PlaqueIQ uses first-line diagnostic CCTA and develops comprehensive, interactive reports to help physicians virtually “see” and quantify plaque. With its basis in histology, the software is uniquely able to non-invasively quantify and characterize plaque and its components such as lipid-rich necrotic core (LRNC), giving potential insights into high-risk plaques that are key drivers of risk of heart attack and stroke. In addition, use of the software has the potential to enable earlier identification of higher-risk plaque before presence of symptoms or major adverse events.

For more information, please visit elucid.com.