Government

More Medicare for some

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 3, 2005

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In 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 (link).

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/01/03/gvbf0103.htm.

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