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- LivaNova (NASDAQ:LIVN) is up ~3% in Wednesday afternoon trading as it is seen as a beneficiary of a CMS advisory meeting in which members discussed raising the reimbursement rate for vagus nerve stimulation by ~40%.
- In a note, Baird’s David Rescott wrote that he believes that the CMS Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment voted in favor of the increase.
- If an increase is instituted, he added that it would allow LivaNova to leverage price and offer a better value proposition for VNS compared to deep brain stimulation.
- “It’s still early to tell exactly how updated reimbursement would influence physicians; decisions and LIVN still has to contend with Italian litigation overhangs, but a meaningful increase to VNS reimbursement (if enacted in FY25) at face value should be a tailwind,” Rescott wrote.
- The company’s VNS system is used to treat drug-resistant epilepsy and difficult-to-treat depression.
- The stock traded higher by ~8% earlier in the trading session.
