Bill would fix payment gap for home infusion
By HME News Staff
Updated Tue July 11, 2017
WASHINGTON - Reps. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., have introduced a bill that would create a “temporary transitional payment” for home infusion drugs beginning Jan. 1, 2019.
The bill, H.R. 3163, would address a payment gap created by two provisions in last year's 21st Century Cures Act. The first provision requires Medicare to pay for services associated with providing Part B home infusion drugs, but not until 2021. Meanwhile, a second provision cut payments for those drugs on Jan. 1 of this year by shifting from an average wholesale price to an average sales price model.
“Providing this temporary and transitional payment will allow the home infusion community to continue to service the most fragile patients until CMS finalizes the services payment included in the Cures Act,” said Tyler Wilson, president of the National Home Infusion Association.
The NHIA urges home infusion providers and partners, patients and other members of the healthcare community to ask their members of Congress to co-sponsor the bill, named “The Medicare Part B Home Infusion Services Temporary Transitional Payment Act.”
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