Considering recent studies concerned with life expectancies of currently available implantable pacemakers, it has been shown that a need exists for greater patient safeguards. In turn, a survey by the authors of 13 manufacturers indicates that a more uniform and delineated set of quality assurance testing standards should be required of this industry. The authors present a minimum set of requirements which, based upon recent independent pacemaker studies, may serve as a guideline toward pacemaker standards in the areas of: component selection, protection from the environment, power supply lifespan, life-expectancy determination, and complete unit assurance testing.