FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 27, 2000

CONTACT: Randy Burkholder (202) 434-7269 Jeff Ezell 202-434-7243

Medicare Changes Needed to Ensure Seniors' Access to New Medical Technology, AdvaMed tells Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Medicare procedures must be improved to remove barriers to patient access to breakthrough medical technologies, AdvaMed, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, testified at a hearing of the House Commerce Committee's on Health and Environment.

Testifying on behalf of AdvaMed, David Fleming, group senior vice president of Genzyme Corp. and chair of the AdvaMed Board Committee on Payment and Health Care Delivery, stated: "New medical technologies are reaching patients much too slowly because of delays in HCFA's complex and cumbersome coverage, coding, and payment systems."

Patients can wait four-and-a-half years or more to gain access to breakthrough technologies as a result of problems in Medicare, Fleming said, noting that this delay occurs after a new product has undergone a rigorous and lengthy FDA review.

The subcommittee hearing occurred simultaneously with congressional debate over a Medicare prescription drug benefit. AdvaMed President Pamela G. Bailey notes that adding a new outpatient drug benefit to Medicare makes little sense if patients do not have access to existing benefits like innovative medical technology.

She said the hearing provided congressional leaders the opportunity to hear specific examples of Medicare beneficiaries' lack of access to advanced technologies. At the hearing, Fleming pointed out the example of coronary stents. Fewer eligible Medicare beneficiaries received these devices as a result of delays in Medicare payment policy, Fleming said.

AdvaMed has been working actively to pass the Medicare Patient Access to Technology Act (H.R. 4395), which was introduced by Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Karen Thurman (D-FL). The bill takes simple, common sense steps to eliminate these delays and remove barriers to access.

Provisions of the bill would require the Health Care Financing Administration to:

• Update annually several payment programs;
• Issue temporary procedure codes for new technologies at the time of FDA review;
• Update codes for medical procedures and technologies every quarter instead of annually;
• Make better use of external data to improve the timeliness and appropriateness of reimbursement decisions;
• Prepare an annual report on the timeliness of its coverage, coding and payment decisions;
• Create open, timely procedures and sound methods for making coding and payment decisions for new diagnostic tests.

"America's seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries deserve prompt access to advanced medical technologies." Bailey said. "As an important first step, Congress should act this year to make this happen by passing the Medicare Patient Access to Technology Act."

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AdvaMed, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, (formerly the Health Industry Manufacturers Association) represents more than 800 innovators and manufacturers of medical devices, diagnostic products and medical information systems. Our members produce nearly 90 percent of the $62 billion health care technology products consumed annually in the United States, and nearly 50 percent of $147 billion purchased around the world annually.