End Stage Renal Disease Drugs: Facility Acquisition Costs and Future Medicare Payment Concerns

摘要

The objectives of this document are: (1) to compare Medicare payment amounts for selected separately billable end stage renal disease (ESRD) drugs to average acquisition costs for these drugs at dialysis facilities in the first quarter of 2009, (2) to examine how facility acquisition costs for selected separately billable ESRD drugs have changed over the past several years, and (3) to determine whether the method the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to use to update payments for separately billable ESRD drugs after 2011 is an accurate predictor of changes in facility acquisition costs.