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ACR commends withdrawal of Medicare Part B Payment Demonstration
In a statement from Sharad Lakhanpal, MBBS, MD, president of the American College of Rheumatology, the group commended CMS for finalizing its decision to withdraw the Part B Drug Payment Demonstration, which the group noted would have negatively impacted patient choice and access to life-saving biologic therapies.
“The ability for our Medicare patients to access biologic therapy infusions — particularly in rural and underserved areas of the country — is already tenuous because the current payment structure does not fully cover the cost of procuring and administering these therapies in the outpatient setting,” Lakhanpal said in a statement. “If the additional payment cuts from the demonstration project were to go through, many rheumatology providers would be forced to stop administering biologic infusion therapies altogether. This would in turn force patients to seek treatment in less safe and more expensive settings, if they were able to access biologic therapies at all.”
Lakhanpal also noted the ACR remains supportive of efforts by CMS to improve health care quality, accessibility and affordability in the Medicare system while “reining in excessive drug costs.”
“In the future, we look forward to working with CMS to develop a payment model that achieves these goals while also ensuring patients can continue to access high-quality rheumatology care and treatments,” he said.
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