DHPA joined more than 100 of the nation’s leading patient and provider organizations in urging Congressional leaders to reverse a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) policy that will create enormous financial uncertainty for specialty providers and jeopardize patient access to vital Part B drug therapies.
CMS included the policy change in its CY 2018 Quality Payment Program Final Rule despite opposition from healthcare advocates and Congressional leaders.
In letters sent to leaders of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and U.S. House Ways & Means and U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committees, the coalition writes that the recent CMS decision to adjust providers’ reimbursements for Part B drug costs based on their performance in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) creates enormous financial risk for specialties that administer Part B drugs and will lead to significant access issues for patients who rely on these therapies.
“This application of the adjustment is not in line with the goals of MACRA, is a significant departure from current policy and would disproportionally affect certain specialties,” the groups write in the letters. “We believe this policy could make it more difficult for physicians, particularly those in rural settings, to administer Part B medications in their communities, creating a dire patient access issue.”
Click here to read the full U.S. House letter.
Click here to read the fill U.S. Senate letter.