Medicare officials signal no payment changes on anemia drugs

The Associated Press: Medicare Declines Payment Changes On Anemia Drugs
Medicare officials signaled Wednesday that they will not change a payment policy for biotech drugs made by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson when they are used to treat anemia in kidney disease patients, despite data suggesting heart risks for those patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid posted a memo online saying it will not issue a national rule on how doctors should use the drugs when treating patients in the government's Medicare plan, which covers 47 million seniors. The agency said it will take comments on this proposal before finalizing it by June 17 (3/16).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.