American Medical Association Clears Path for Adenoviral Conjunctivitis - 'Pink Eye' ...( SARASOTA Fla. Nov. 7 /- Rapid Pat...),Health

SARASOTA, Fla., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Rapid Pathogen Screening Inc., (RPS) -- a leading developer of point-of-care diagnostic devices for ocular diseases -- announced today that the American Medical Association will issue a new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code that will cover the RPS Adeno Detector(TM), effective January 1, 2008. CPT Code 87809 -- a code for "Infectious agent antigen detection by immunoassay with direct optical observation; Adenovirus" -- will cover the RPS Adeno Detector(TM).

The RPS Adeno Detector(TM) is the first true point-of-care test available for conjunctivitis -- more commonly known as "pink eye." Cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and waived under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), this test is highly sensitive and specific, and it provides a definitive result in 10 minutes. The publication of this CPT code will expand the use of the RPS Adeno Detector(TM) and equip health care providers with this necessary tool to make an accurate laboratory confirmation of adenoviral conjunctivitis at the time of the patient exam.

"The creation of a new CPT code reflects the value that the RPS Adeno Detector(TM) provides to the patient, the clinician and the healthcare system at large," stated Robert Sambursky, MD, Chief Medical Officer of RPS. "With the CPT code, clinicians may use the RPS Adeno Detector(TM) to accurately diagnose and treat cases of acute conjunctivitis. This will not only result in better patient care; it also will save millions in health care dollars. If all cases of acute conjunctivitis were diagnosed with the RPS Adeno Detector(TM), the Health Economics Consulting Group, LLC (HECG) estimates that the U.S. healthcare system would save more than $460 million each year."

The RPS Adeno Detector(TM) not only allows for accurate and early diagnosis of pink eye thereby mitigating the spread of this often contagious disease, but it also reduces the over-prescriptio
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