Medicare IVIG Demonstration Extended
October 2017 ~
On September 28, Congress passed legislation (Public Law No: 115-63) that extends the Medicare Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) Demonstration through December 31, 2020. All beneficiaries enrolled in the demonstration as of September 30th, will automatically be re-enrolled in the demonstration for the extension period and do not need to take any action. CMS says suppliers can continue to provide and be paid for demonstration services to these beneficiaries on or after October 1, 2017.
According to CMS, “the IVIG Demonstration has been implemented to evaluate the benefits of providing payment and items for services needed for the in-home administration of intravenous immune globulin for the treatment of primary immune deficiency disease (PIDD).
The three year demonstration, authorized under Title I, section 101 of the “Medicare IVIG Access and Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-242),” is intended to enroll up to 4,000 Medicare beneficiaries, who would pay per-visit payment amounts for items and services needed for the in-home administration of IVIG based on the national per visit low-utilization payment amount (LUPA) under the prospective payment system for home health services.
Under this demonstration, Medicare will provide a bundled payment under Part B for items and services that are necessary to administer IVIG in the home to enrolled beneficiaries who are not otherwise homebound and receiving home health care benefits. The demonstration only applies to situations where the beneficiary requires intravenous immune globulin for the treatment of PIDD, or is currently receiving subcutaneous immune globulin to treat PIDD and wishes to switch to intravenous immune globulin.
Services covered under the demonstration shall be provided and billed by the specialty pharmacies that provide the immune globulin drug, which is already covered under Medicare Part B. The new demonstration covered services will be paid as a single bundle and will be subject to coinsurance and deductible in the same manner as other Part B services. Home health agencies are not eligible to bill for services covered under the demonstration but may still bill for services related to the administration of IVIG that are covered under the payment for a home health episode of care.
CMS is now accepting new enrollees for this demonstration. In order to participate in this demonstration, beneficiaries must complete and submit an application form. All applications must be signed by the beneficiary as well as his or her physician. Beneficiaries must meet specified eligibility requirements including being covered under the original Medicare fee-for-service program and not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, have Part B, and require IVIG for the treatment of PIDD.”
Applications for participation as well as information for beneficiaries can be found here.
Source(s): Congress.gov; GovTrack; Immune Deficiency Foundation; CMS; Noridian Medicare;
