On March 19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the expansion of Medicare coverage for home blood testing of prothrombin time (PT) International Normalized Ratio (INR) to included beneficiaries who are using the drug warfarin for chronic fibrillation or venous thromboembolism. The prior policy only provided home test coverage for Medicare patients with mechanical heart valves who are on warfarin.

The decision memo can be found by going to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/viewdecisionmemo.asp?id=209.