Heart Beat

Warfarin home monitoring program expanded

If you take warfarin (Coumadin) because you have atrial fibrillation or have had a blood clot in a leg or lung, Medicare will pay for you to check your blood clotting time at home. This change, announced in March 2008, may save you time and make taking warfarin safer.

All people who take warfarin must routinely check their INR, a measure of how long it takes blood to clot. This simple blood test shows whether your warfarin dose is too low (which could lead to a blood clot), too high (which could lead to bleeding in the brain or elsewhere), or just right.