WALTHAM, Mass. and LOS ANGELES, Nov. 5, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BG Medicine, Inc. (BGMD), a company focused on the development and commercialization of novel cardiovascular diagnostics, today announced that it will be launching a major initiative to help hospitals reduce the number of unplanned readmissions for heart failure patients, beginning at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2012 taking place Nov. 3-7, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Representatives at the BG Medicine booth (#1737) will be on hand to highlight the role that galectin-3 blood testing can play in helping hospitals address the urgent need to reduce readmission rates.

Since taking effect on October 1, 2012, new rules from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have made reducing unplanned hospital readmissions a critical priority. Hospitals that exceed the Medicare thresholds will be assessed financial penalties that are expected to reach an aggregate of nearly $300 million this year alone, and nearly $1 billion by 2015, if improvements are not made.

Even with optimal care, today nearly a quarter of all Medicare heart failure patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days1, making heart failure a major driver of hospital readmission rates, far ahead of myocardial infarction and pneumonia. Because heart failure patients with elevated galectin-3 are two-to-three times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, identifying these high-risk patients through galectin-3 testing is a potentially valuable and cost-effective tool in a hospital's strategy to reduce unplanned 30-day readmissions. Identifying those at greater risk with galectin-3 testing enables hospitals to better direct their intervention strategies and resources to those who need them most, potentially providing a way to improve outcomes while also controlling costs and avoiding penalties.

"Patient stratification tools that help predict risk of near-term readmission would allow the clinician to better direct more resource-intensive heart failure disease management efforts to patients at higher risk," said Rudolf A. de Boer, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. "Such tools would be usable upon discharge, with a simple interpretation such as a single threshold value. Galectin-3 is such a tool and should be considered for heart failure readmissions programs. Baseline galectin-3 is a powerful predictor of unplanned hospital readmissions and, importantly, adds significantly to other risk factors such as age, reduced renal function, diminished left ventricular pumping capacity and BNP levels."

The BG Medicine booth at AHA will include an interactive demonstration that will enable health care professionals and hospital administrators to determine the financial impact of utilizing galectin-3 testing at their hospitals as part of a comprehensive readmissions reduction strategy. The BG Medicine Galectin-3 Readmissions Calculator being introduced at AHA will enable users to determine the potential financial impact of galectin-3 testing instantly, factoring in the costs of testing and of implementing a targeted intervention initiative, as well as the reduction in costs associated with lower readmissions and avoidance of Medicare penalties.

"Galectin-3 testing is a powerful tool for those seeking to make their intervention strategies on patients with clinical variations more targeted, efficient and effective," said Eric Bouvier, President and CEO of BG Medicine. "We look forward to expanding our efforts to help health professionals address this urgent issue."

The BGM Galectin-3(R) Test is cleared by the FDA as an aid in assessing the prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure.

About Galectin-3 and Heart Failure

Galectin-3 is a unique carbohydrate-binding lectin, or protein, that binds to carbohydrates called beta-galactosides. Galectin-3 has been implicated in a variety of biological processes important in the development and progression of heart failure, and is believed to be a primary mediator of progressive cardiac fibrosis (abnormal thickening and stiffening of the heart muscle) and adverse remodeling (changes in the structure of the heart). Higher levels of galectin-3 are associated with a more aggressive form of heart failure and 30% or more of mild to moderate heart failure patients will have elevated levels of galectin-3. Heart failure affects an estimated 5.8 million Americans, with approximately 670,000 new cases occurring each year. The direct and indirect cost of heart failure in the United States for 2010 is estimated to be $39.2 billion.

About BG Medicine, Inc.

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BG Medicine to Highlight Role of Galectin-3 Testing in Reducing Unplanned Hospital Readmissions at the 2012 American ...