WASHINGTON (AP) — Beginning Sunday, Medicare will pay for intestinal transplants for some elderly and disabled patients at three government-approved transplant centers.

Nationally, more than 75,000 people are waiting for organ transplants, but just 173 need new intestines. Fewer than 1,000 of intestinal transplants have been performed in the United States and most of those operations have been done on children.

The transplant replaces the small intestine in people whose digestive systems cannot absorb nutrients, a condition caused by a variety of medical problems including bowel disease and injury.

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The government will cover patients with intestine failure who no longer can be treated with intravenous feeding tubes. The decision affects few of the millions of elderly and disabled patients covered by Medicare, but health officials said it was a big step in advancing donor awareness and medical technology.

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