Dive Brief:
- iRhythm Technologies made “nice progress” in the fourth quarter in addressing the challenges it faced earlier in the year, CEO Quentin Blackford said in business update published on the company’s website.
- The maker of the Zio wearable cardiac monitor reported more than 20% growth in patient registration and “sequential” improvement in its returned device rate, a factor that hurt the business in the third quarter.
- While iRhythm hasn’t yet reported the financial impact of those changes. the shares of the company gained 2.3%, or $1.94, to $87.83 in trading on Nasdaq on Monday.
Dive Insight:
Blackford told investors in November that “softness in returned devices” curbed the company’s ability to perform services and boost revenue. The company warned the issue could continue into the fourth quarter, and facing “ongoing staffing and capacity challenges,” it cut its full-year sales forecast.
Blackford’s more upbeat appraisal, also presented on Monday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, may indicate iRhythm has at least partly recovered from some of the challenges it faced.
“Strong momentum in patient registrations continued, growing in excess of 20% in the fourth quarter and in line with expectations. We also made good progress with returned devices rates, which are trending back towards historical levels, and we made the necessary updates to our Zio AT Clinical Reference Manual and Important Information pamphlet,” Blackford said in the statement.
Blackford also discussed iRhythm’s work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the physician fee schedule for its device. Late last year, the CMS changed its price for the extended external ECG patch to $260.35, up from the $245.69 price it included in its proposed rule in July 2022. At the time, iRhythm said it was waiting for the final rule before commenting on other pricing codes.
