The Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) is praising the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would recognize diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals as drugs in the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System.
Introduced by Reps. George Holding (R-NC) and Seth Moulton (D-MA), the Medicare Diagnostic Radiopharmaceutical Payment Equity Act of 2018 (HR 6948) would ensure equitable payment for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals and preserve Medicare beneficiary access to these drugs, according to MITA. Radiopharmaceuticals would be accurately considered as drugs and paid separately in the Medicare hospital outpatient setting, said Bill Abbott of Life Molecular Imaging and chair of the MITA PET Group.
"Passage of this legislation will remove the disincentive to innovation and contribute to greater patient access to these important diagnostic tests," Abbott said in a statement from MITA.
