Atherotech's VAP cholesterol test is now covered by TRICARE, the Department of Defense's health care plan for the uniformed services, retirees and their families.
The announcement means that the VAP Test, with its unique ability to identify far more areas of risk than the standard lipid panel, will now be available to the more than 9 million beneficiaries enrolled in the Military Health System (MHS) through TRICARE. The MHS provides quality medical care through a network of providers, military treatment facilities, medical clinics and dental clinics worldwide.
People with a family history or an existing condition of diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease -- or who are already taking cholesterol lowering medication -- are candidates for the comprehensive VAP (Vertical Auto Profile) Test. In addition, those who don't score within the desirable ranges of the standard cholesterol test should opt for the more detailed VAP Test.
Unlike the standard lipid panel, the VAP Test directly measures LDL. The test is also the only commercially available test that meets the new American Diabetes Association and American College of Cardiology (ADA-ACC) cholesterol guidelines for people at high risk of heart attack and stroke (including people with Type 2 diabetes). The ADA-ACC consensus statement establishes measurement and treatment guidelines for apoB in addition to LDL and non-HDL in high-risk patients.
The largest private insurers such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program now cover the VAP Test, which reports 15 separate components versus four in the standard cholesterol test, and has been shown to identify more than twice the number of patients with lipid abnormalities than the standard lipid panel (cholesterol and triglyceride test).
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