Given Imaging Announces CMS Assignment of Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for Capsule Endoscopy

1/6/2003 - ATLANTA, GA -- Given Imaging (NASDAQ: GIVN) announced today that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has established a code and payment rate for capsule endoscopy for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. This decision comes only 16 months after the M2A capsule endoscope received FDA clearance in August 2001 and should expand use of capsule endoscopy by gastroenterologists treating Medicare patients.

"By establishing a code for capsule endoscopy, CMS has acknowledged the vital role that capsule endoscopy plays in diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders. We believe this is a significant step toward making capsule endoscopy even more widely available to the physicians and patients who need it," said Gavriel D. Meron, president and CEO of Given Imaging Ltd. "Recently published studies show that capsule endoscopy helps physicians diagnose gastrointestinal disorders faster and with greater precision eliminating unnecessary costs and procedures for patients."

Today’s announcement does not affect commercial insurance payers, such as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, CareFirst Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Oxford Health and Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield, that have already established their own coverage and payment policies. The company anticipates that this positive decision from CMS will prompt more private payers to issue their own policy statements regarding capsule endoscopy.

For additional information please see Given Imaging's reimbursement fact sheet at http://www.givenimaging.com/usa/reimbursement.asp. Editor's Note: This link is no longer active.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including projections about our business, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense, words such as "anticipates," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "intends" and words and terms of similar substance used in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance identify such forward-looking statements. Those forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations as a result of numerous factors, including but not limited to the following: changes in regulatory environment, our success in implementing our sales, marketing and manufacturing plan, protection and validity of patents and other intellectual property rights, the impact of currency exchange rates, the effect of competition by other companies, the outcome of future litigation, the reimbursement policies for our product from healthcare payors, quarterly variations in operating results, and other risks disclosed in our filings with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission.

19.Sept.'03