Now that the U.S. House of Representatives has voted down a higher debt ceiling for the U.S. government, Congress can go back the drawing board on deciding how many Medicare spending cuts the voters and stakeholders can stomach, but as always, there are pockets of concern within the larger picture. The picture for device makers is somewhat complicated in part because the Medicare Part B “doc fix” is a $30 billion-a-year overhang that will be tough to resolve, not just because of the positions taken up on each side of Capitol Hill. On the Senate side, Kent Conrad (D-North...
Top 10 reasons interventional cardiologists should be happy By MARK McCARTY Medical Device Daily Washington Editor Dear Interventional Cardiologist, Worried about Medicare reimbursement for the Next Great Stent? Concerned that FDA's massive regulatory girth will squash your drug-eluting balloon groove? Not to worry. Here are the top 10 reasons you should be thrilled with your choice of specialty. Number 10: PCI numbers are flat of late, but just watch that Baby Boom fill your waiting room in the years to come. Number 9: The transradial (through the wrist) route is gaining acceptance as an approach to coronary intervention. Number 8:...
By most objective accounts, Donald Berwick is doing a pretty decent job as chief administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, giving CMS a much-needed shot in the arm and kick in the . . . well, you know. Unfortunately, that appears to not be enough for him to keep the job beyond the end of the year, as mandated by law for "recess" appointments such as himself. Berwick, who knows the provider side of medicine as a pediatrician, is a health policy expert of some repute. He has been quite the thinker on broader healthcare questions, including...
The recess appointment of Donald Berwick, MD, to the administrator’s position at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last July roiled many members of Congress, and a recent Senate letter to the Obama administration expressing disfavor for Berwick’s continued presence at CMS may have finally lain to rest any chance that he had of a successful confirmation hearing. The letter, whose principal authors include Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), the ranking GOP member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the ranking GOP member of the Senate Finance Committee, cite Berwick’s “past record...