Congress Prods CMS Response Time

Originally Published MX May/June 2003

BUSINESS NEWS

Medical device companies have long complained that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS; Bethesda, MD) are slow to process and implement coverage, coding, and payment decisions for new medical technologies. But that could change under legislation introduced in the Senate at the beginning of April.

The Medicare Innovation Responsiveness Act of 2003 (S. 823), calls on CMS to set reasonable deadlines for implementation of national coverage, coding, and payment decisions and to reduce delays in the amount of time it takes Medicare to set adequate payment for new medical technologies in inpatient settings.