July 19, 2004—For the first time, a broad spectrum of health advocates met to address sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), a public health issue that kills more than 1,000 Americans each day. Speakers at the “Sudden Cardiac Arrest Forum: Confronting America’s #1 Killer” urged Congress to improve access to life-saving early defibrillation therapies—the only treatment that can prevent death in many cases of SCA.
The Forum, co-hosted by the National Center for Early Defibrillation (NCED) based at the University of Pittsburgh and the Congressional Heart and Stroke Caucus, took place at the Hart Senate Office Building. Representative Lois Capps (D-CA), co-chair of the Heart and Stroke Caucus, Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) also will share testimony about the urgent need to prevent thousands of needless deaths from SCA each year.
SCA, caused by an electrical breakdown in the heart, is fatal 93 percent of the time. Unlike many other health problems of this magnitude, many deaths from SCA can be prevented. Early defibrillation, via an automated external defibrillator (AED) or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), can return an abnormal heartbeat to a normal rhythm. Research has repeatedly proven the life-saving value of defibrillation therapies, but they aren’t widely known and often aren’t available to people who are most at risk.
Federal regulators could make defibrillation therapies more accessible to those who are proven to be at risk of SCA by approving two important measures. Congress is considering an amendment to the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 as well as appropriations for the Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act and the Community Access to Emergency Defibrillation Act to provide greater funding and access to AEDs and other life-saving technologies. In addition, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is reviewing changes in Medicare coverage policies that could protect certain Americans with heart failure who are at increased risk for SCA by giving them access to ICD therapy.
The “Sudden Cardiac Arrest Forum: Confronting America’s #1 Killer” was co- hosted by the National Center for Early Defibrillation and the Congressional Heart and Stroke Caucus, with support from Medtronic, Inc.
For more information, contact SCA.
