News in brief - Feb. 16, 2004

CMS will take comments online - S.D. lawmakers opt against lowering medical malpractice award cap - OIG finds Medicare overpayment for drugs

CMS will take comments online

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced it will accept public comments on Medicare and Medicaid regulations submitted via the Internet. Those wishing to comment electronically can do so at the government regulations Web site (www.regulations.gov) or by clicking on the link to the new system on the CMS Web site (www.cms.gov).

Electronic comments will be posted on the CMS site for the public to review and will include any personal or business information appearing with the comments.

The agency will continue to accept written comments that are hand-delivered or mailed by the close of the rule's comment period.

S.D. lawmakers opt against lowering medical malpractice award cap

The South Dakota House judiciary committee in January voted unanimously to kill a bill that proposed lowering the state's cap on noneconomic damages to $250,000 from the current $500,000. The measure also would have limited lawyers' fees in medical malpractice cases. The American Medical Association lists South Dakota as one of 25 states facing medical liability problems. Another 19 states are experiencing medical liability crises marked by high insurance rates that have forced physicians to leave their states, retire early or reduce services, according to the AMA.

OIG finds Medicare overpayment for drugs

Medicare should revise its payment levels for three physician-administered drugs, the Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General said. Medicare pays substantially more for albuterol, used to treat asthma and emphysema, and ipratropium bromide, a treatment for chronic bronchitis or emphysema, than do Medicaid programs or the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the OIG said.

Investigators said that Medicare is expected to pay somewhat higher prices because practitioners must purchase the drugs from pharmacies, while the VA purchases the drugs in bulk. However, they said, the price differential is large enough to be "disconcerting."

The OIG also recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services instruct all carriers to use its least-costly-alternative policy to reduce prices for Lupron. Most carriers will pay no more for a single dose of Lupron than they do for Zoladex, which is considered by many experts to be clinically comparable. But carriers are paying higher prices in 10 of the 57 jurisdictions, the OIG said.