ACCC Voices Strong Opposition to CMS Part B Drug Payment Model

ROCKVILLE, Md. – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its much anticipated Part B Drug Payment Model yesterday, which proposes to change the way Medicare pays for Part B drugs through a national mandatory program.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) is deeply concerned this experiment will have a detrimental impact on patients and their access to high quality, high value cancer care. The agency has put forward a convoluted plan that will place undue burden on both patients and providers, and significantly hamper providers’ ability to provide critical cancer care services in their communities.

On both policy and process, CMS missed the mark with this proposal. The agency sought no stakeholder input and is providing little turnaround time before implementation of such a sweeping, misguided change in Medicare reimbursement.

ACCC calls on the agency to withdraw the proposal and begin significant stakeholder outreach on sustainable, comprehensive payment reform. We will be submitting detailed comments to CMS that reflect our profound disappointment in this narrow and potentially damaging approach to policymaking.