Abiomed shares surge on Medicare move to maintain reimbursement rates for the Impella heart pump.
Shares of Abiomed (NSDQ:ABMD) surged nearly 10% today after news broke that Medicare will maintain the reimbursement rate for its flagship Impella heart pump.
The Danvers, Mass.-based medical device company’s stock took a roller-coaster ride last month on an analyst’s speculation that the government health program would cut the reimbursement rate for the Impella pump.
A meeting of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services committee last week prompted Northland Capital Markets’ Suraj Kalia to surmise that a planned update of the definitions for reimbursement codes would cut the rate for treatment with the Impella device. Abiomed shares plunged 19% on the speculation, only to rebound when the company explained that the CMS proposal wouldn’t necessarily mean any changes to the codes assigned to treatment with Impella.
