OMB Hints at Changes to Medical Device Payments

According to Politico Pro:

“HHS and OMB are assessing regulation of the medical device industry with action on government payment changes anticipated over the next six months, OMB associate director of health programs Joe Grogan said this morning.

Grogan told an Alliance for Health Policy press briefing that the existing payment system allows ‘barbaric devices’ that cause higher mortality and drive up overall health system costs to be reimbursed at higher rates than newer technology.

The administration is looking at regulatory and statutory changes and is considering some demonstration projects through the Medicare and Medicaid innovation center, Grogan said.

He expressed concern that current policies are both harming patients and crippling U.S. dominance in the industry.

‘This is an industry that we dominate and which the Chinese want to pummel completely and make it a national goal to really dominate,’ Grogan said. ‘At one point, we were the number one country to launch a device first and now it’s Germany and we don’t see enough private equity investing in the device space as we would like.’

Grogan said CMS Administrator Seema Veerma recognizes the need for change and has some ‘cool ideas’ in the works.”

ANCOR is sharing this given the importance of certain medical devices and the payments surrounding them for I/DD providers.