Cardiac Output Monitoring by Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEB)

Medicare covers thoracic electrical bioimpedance (TEB) for specific, physician-documented clinical uses: differentiating cardiogenic vs pulmonary causes of acute dyspnea, optimizing A/V pacemaker intervals, monitoring continuous inotropic therapy for terminal CHF patients at home or those awaiting transplant, evaluating transplant rejection as an alternative to biopsy, and optimizing fluid management in CHF when standard assessments are insufficient. TEB is nationally non-covered for severe aortic regurgitation, patients with MV-sensor pacemakers, during cardiac bypass surgery, and for routine hypertension management (except that MACs may consider TEB reasonable for drug-resistant hypertension per their discretion); all other unspecified uses are non-covered.

"TEB is covered to differentiate cardiogenic from pulmonary causes of acute dyspnea when medical history, physical examination, and standard assessment tools are insufficient and the treating physic..."