The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has partnered with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to commission a review of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) devices. The purpose of this review is to provide information to CMS for consideration in Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) coding decisions. Section 154(c) (3) of the Medicare Improvements for Patient and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) calls for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to perform an evaluation of the HCPCS codes for NPWT devices.
The HCPCS Level II coding system is a comprehensive, standardized system that classifies similar products that are medical in nature into categories for the purpose of efficient claims processing. Products are classified based on similarities in function and whether the products exhibit significant therapeutic distinctions from other products. This review will facilitate CMS' evaluation of HCPCS coding for NPWT by providing CMS with relevant studies and information for use in consideration of coding changes, as required by the MIPPA legislation. CMS will use this review in its assessment of whether existing HCPCS codes adequately represent the technology and comparative benefits of NPWT devices.
This review is one of several that are being conducted for the AHRQ Technology Assessment Program. It will include a review of all available literature on the topic and a solicitation from all interested stakeholders including health care professionals, scientific researchers, wound care organizations, biotech industry, and the patient wound care community for studies and other compelling clinical evidence regarding clinical outcomes associated with NPWT devices. We are particularly interested in those well-conducted clinical trials that describe the comparative benefits of these devices.
The solicitation for studies and evidence was made available to industry stakeholders on December 30, 2008, and requested stakeholders provide this information to AHRQ by February 06, 2009. Stakeholders who would like to provide information about studies or other compelling evidence related to comparative benefits and outcomes of NPWT devices should refer to http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ta/npwtrequest.htm.
For the full HCPCS web page see http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medhcpcsgeninfo/ on the CMS website.
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