Writing yesterday in The Hill, Immune Deficiency Foundation President Marcia Boyle explains the potential harm posed to patients by the recently proposed Medicare Part B demonstration:
While CMS’ intent is to save money, the results of this demonstration stand to severely impact patients who rely on Medicare. The reduction in reimbursement will force many providers to stop offering the most clinically effective treatments, leaving patients with two options: forego prescribed therapies or travel to more expensive settings to receive treatment and absorb the associated increased costs.
Perhaps more concerning is that when developing this new payment model, CMS made no effort to hear from patients or physicians – the two groups primarily impacted. I, and the patients and physicians of the PI community, strongly oppose any effort to rush through a regulatory initiative that may adversely impact patients’ access to life-saving and life-enhancing Medicare Part B covered therapies.
It is my sincere hope that CMS will reflect on the proposed payment experiment and seriously consider patient outcomes and what is truly best for patients. I respectfully urge lawmakers in Congress to warn CMS against this dangerous experiment on Medicare recipients. It may prove to be detrimental to their constituents living with primary immunodeficiency diseases and countless other chronic diseases.
Read the full piece here.
