AdvaMed tells Congress Medicare is too slow

Members of AdvaMed told the House Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on health and environment last month that new medical technologies are reaching patients too slowly because of delays in the Health Care Financing Administration’s coding, coverage, and payment systems.

Patients can wait four-and-a-half years or more to be diagnosed by or treated with new medical technologies because of Medicare procedures, said David Fleming, group senior vice president of Genzyme Corp. and chair of the AdvaMed Board Committee on Payment and Health Care Delivery, at the hearing.

AdvaMed has been actively working to pass the Medicare Patient Access to Technology Act. The bill would eliminate reimbursement and coding delays, the association believes.