But will insurance pay for them? The “Cheney Standard” may help.

Implantable devices that can shock a heart out of a chaotic and deadly rhythm worked so well at saving lives in a recent study that cardiologists now predict that the number of patients receiving them will double in the years ahead. Wider use could prevent tens of thousands of deaths from sudden cardiac arrest, the largest cause of natural death in the U.S., claiming a quarter of a million adult lives annually.

But the expense of supplying implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to everyone who could benefit from them could deliver a jolt to the nation’s health-care budget. Procedures and equipment cost $30,000 to $40,000 per patient. Doubling the number of…

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