CMS Has Plan To Ensure Full Payment, Speedy Access For Coronavirus Vaccines, Administrator Says
- October 14, 2020
Bloomberg Law (10/13, Subscription Publication) reports CMS “has a plan to ensure full payment for and speedy access to new [COVID-19] vaccines and treatments for Medicare beneficiaries, agency Administrator Seema Verma said Tuesday at a virtual conference.” While Congress “has made clear it wants Medicare to cover the cost of a [COVID-19] vaccine without cost-sharing, Verma said it can take one to three years to work out payment issues for vaccines and other treatments due to agency’s ‘very deliberative processes,’ which, ‘unfortunately, can delay putting access to important treatments, innovative technology in the hands of our beneficiaries.’” Verma also “said the CMS is working to ensure that ‘as FDA is giving approvals for new medications, that we are paying for these innovative treatments appropriately.’”
Also reporting are MedCity News (10/13, Reuter) and Healthcare Finance News (10/13, Hackett).