Device coverage policy
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
General Accounting Office plans to release a report on coverage decisions for new procedures and devices in June, in time to influence congressional debate over Medicare reform legislation, Health Care-Program Administration & Integrity Issues Director Leslie Aronowitz tells HHS secretary's regulatory reform committee in Washington, D.C. Jan. 7. Initiated by GAO, the study will examine the national coverage process, local carrier decisions, and the "hundreds and hundreds of [CPT and HCPCS] codes that get assimilated into the payment system without any formal [coverage] process. We need to understand the extent to which this happens and the rationale that underlies the different pathways," she says...