GOVERNMENTNews in brief - Jan. 3/10, 2005More Medicare for some - Power wheelchair controversy More Medicare for someIn an end-of-year push, Medicare officials announced that they will expand coverage of promising treatments for diabetes, stroke prevention, prostate cancer and a rare blood disorder. The program will begin covering insulin infusion pumps for a larger population of diabetic patients, as well as carotid artery stenting for certain beneficiaries who are at a severe risk for stroke. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also proposed subsidizing palliative treatment using abarelix for some seniors with prostate cancer and paying for autologous stem cell transplantation for seniors with AL amyloidosis. A final national coverage determination for the insulin pumps and the proposed determinations for the other three treatments are on the CMS Web site at (www.cms.hhs.gov/coverage). Power wheelchair controversyThe federal government has insufficient safeguards to prevent improper Medicare reimbursements for power wheelchairs, according to a new report. Government Accountability Office analysts said a large portion of the more than 450% increase in Medicare wheelchair payments since 1999 is due to inadequate protection against misleading marketing practices and fraudulent activity. Medicare paid nearly $1 billion for the devices in 2003, the study notes. Within hours of the report's release, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that the agency would open a new national coverage determination to clarify who should be receiving federal subsidies for power wheelchairs. Copyright 2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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