CardioVascular Coalition Commends CMS for Appropriate Updates to Final Physician Fee Schedule Rule

PAD advocacy community, bipartisan lawmakers urged CMS to work with stakeholders to properly value revascularization services

WASHINGTON– The Cardiovascular Coalition (CVC), a coalition of physicians, care providers, advocates, and manufacturers dedicated to finding solutions designed to improve awareness and prevention of peripheral artery disease (PAD), commends the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for not finalizing an estimated 30 percent cut to revascularization reimbursement for the treatment of PAD in the Final 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Rule.

“Maintaining adequate reimbursement for PAD interventions ensures continued access to high-quality and convenient care, improving clinical outcomes and increasing our ability to prevent avoidable amputations in patients diagnosed with PAD,” said Jeffrey Carr, MD, a member of the CVC and Founding President of the Outpatient Endovascular and Interventional Society (OEIS). “We applaud CMS for listening to the concerns of the physician community and working with stakeholders to appropriately value revascularization services in the Final Rule. We look forward to continuing our work with CMS and Congress to ensure unnecessary limb amputation becomes a thing of the past.”

The CVC had previously warned that inappropriately cutting reimbursement rates for performing revascularization procedures, which are vital for clearing patients’ arteries of dangerous clogs and preventing thousands of unnecessary amputations, could put patient access at risk. Data show as many as 200,000 non-traumatic amputations take place each year in the U.S.

The proposed cuts stemmed from CMS’ proposal to update equipment and supply pricing data in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule database. The CVC expressed concerns with the accuracy of the data for revascularization codes as some of the inputs had no pricing data at all in the CMS database to support the rational for the cut.

The CVC further praised a bipartisan group of lawmakers – led by Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Donald Payne (D-NJ) – for sending a letter to CMS cautioning against the proposed cuts to revascularization services. In addition to Congressmen Paulsen and Payne, Representatives Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Kenny Marchant (R-TX), Luke Messer (R-IN), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Tom Rice (R-SC), David Phil Roe, MD (R-TN), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Dennis Ross (R-FL), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (R-PA), Fred Upton (R-MI) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL) signed the letter.