FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2000CONTACT: Mary Plock 202-434-7240
AMERICA’S SENIORS DENIED ACCESS TO LIFESAVING MEDICAL TREATMENTS PATIENTS, PROVIDERS TO SPEAK OUT AT MAY 10 EVENT
Medicare patients and physicians who care for them will come together at a press conference May 10 on Capitol Hill to speak out against the barriers they face in gaining access to lifesaving medical devices. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Rep. Karen Thurman (D-FL) will introduce bipartisan legislation, the Medicare Patient Access to Technology Act, that eliminates long delays in getting new medical technologies to Medicare beneficiaries.
Patients and physicians at the event will voice their concerns that problems in Medicare are denying them access to innovative medical devices and diagnostics such as:
- Intravascular radiation, a breakthrough technology that prevents renarrowing of the coronary artery after angioplasty. (Some of the 50,000 seniors who would benefit from the technology may not receive it this year.)
- Ventricular assist devices that keep failing hearts beating while awaiting heart transplant. (Many Medicare-age patients on the heart transplant waiting list could benefit from this life-saving device if it is made available to them.)
- A bladder cancer test designed for convenient use in a physician’s office or home-use setting. (This year more than 53,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with bladder cancer. Many of these patients could benefit from a cancer test designed for convenient use in the physician’s office or at home if the product is appropriately reimbursed by Medicare.)
The Medicare Patient Access to Technology Act seeks elimination of regulatory barriers that impede patient access through targeted changes in Medicare.
WHAT: Press Conference WHO: Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN)
Rep. Karen Thurman (D-FL)
Nancy Loving, National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease
Nick Smedira, MD, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Jeffrey Moses, MD, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York
Terry O'Brien, Administrator, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York
Andre Cheng, MD, Johns Hopkins Hospital, BaltimoreWHEN: May 10, at 11:00 a.m. WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building
Room B318
Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20002
### The Health Industry Manufacturers Association (HIMA) is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association and the largest medical technology association in the world. HIMA represents more than 800 manufacturers of medical devices, diagnostic products, and medical information systems. HIMA's members manufacture nearly 90 percent of the $68 billion of health care technology products purchased annually in the United States, and more than 50 percent of the $159 billion purchased annually around the world.