Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Macular Degeneration Coverage

Macular Degeneration Coverage Sen Herb Kohl (D, Wis) and Sen Sherrod Brown (D, Ohio) are asking Medicare to cover a much less expensive treatment option for individuals with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The senators' request comes after a clinical trial showed bevacizumab (Avastin), at about $50 a dose, is equivalent to treatment with the current gold standard, ranibizumab (Lucentis), which costs about $2000 a dose (Martin DF et al. N Engl J Med. 2011;364[20]:1897-1908). In a July 20 letter to Donald M. Berwick, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the senators formally requested a National Coverage Determination for the use of bevacizumab to treat age-related macular degeneration in the Medicare population (http://tinyurl.com/3tamprp). While the vast majority of coverage is determined on a local level, Medicare sometimes deems it appropriate to develop a National Coverage Determination for a therapy to be applied on a national basis for all Medicare beneficiaries. If Medicare takes this step, the senators wrote, “more affordable access to AMD treatment will become widely available to Medicare beneficiaries. In addition to this increased access to an effective treatment for blindness, the American taxpayer will also benefit due to savings in Medicare spending.” http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA American Medical Association

Macular Degeneration Coverage

JAMA , Volume 306 (10) – Sep 14, 2011

Macular Degeneration Coverage

Abstract

Sen Herb Kohl (D, Wis) and Sen Sherrod Brown (D, Ohio) are asking Medicare to cover a much less expensive treatment option for individuals with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The senators' request comes after a clinical trial showed bevacizumab (Avastin), at about $50 a dose, is equivalent to treatment with the current gold standard, ranibizumab (Lucentis), which costs about $2000 a dose (Martin DF et al. N Engl J Med. 2011;364[20]:1897-1908). In a July 20 letter to...
Loading next page...
 
/lp/american-medical-association/macular-degeneration-coverage-RuVGofZwnb

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0098-7484
eISSN
1538-3598
DOI
10.1001/jama.2011.1253
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Sen Herb Kohl (D, Wis) and Sen Sherrod Brown (D, Ohio) are asking Medicare to cover a much less expensive treatment option for individuals with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The senators' request comes after a clinical trial showed bevacizumab (Avastin), at about $50 a dose, is equivalent to treatment with the current gold standard, ranibizumab (Lucentis), which costs about $2000 a dose (Martin DF et al. N Engl J Med. 2011;364[20]:1897-1908). In a July 20 letter to Donald M. Berwick, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the senators formally requested a National Coverage Determination for the use of bevacizumab to treat age-related macular degeneration in the Medicare population (http://tinyurl.com/3tamprp). While the vast majority of coverage is determined on a local level, Medicare sometimes deems it appropriate to develop a National Coverage Determination for a therapy to be applied on a national basis for all Medicare beneficiaries. If Medicare takes this step, the senators wrote, “more affordable access to AMD treatment will become widely available to Medicare beneficiaries. In addition to this increased access to an effective treatment for blindness, the American taxpayer will also benefit due to savings in Medicare spending.”

Journal

JAMAAmerican Medical Association

Published: Sep 14, 2011

Keywords: macular degeneration

There are no references for this article.