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CMS Issues Clarification on Inhalation Drug Dispensing Fee
Dec 5, 2005 11:41 AM
BALTIMORE--Only one dispensing fee for inhalation therapy drugs will be payable per 30- or 90-day period, regardless of the numbers of suppliers used, CMS clarified in a transmittal last week.
Last month, respiratory providers were dismayed when CMS announced that it would reduce the dispensing fee for Medicare Part B inhalation drugs from $57 to $33 per monthly supply in 2006. Each 90-day supply will drop from $80 to $66. The agency will provide an initial $57 30-day dispensing fee, which is a "one-time fee applicable only to beneficiaries who are using inhalation drugs for the first time as a Medicare beneficiary," CMS said. (See HomeCare Monday, Nov.7.)
For a refill prescription, Medicare will not pay for a dispensing fee sooner than seven days before the end of usage for the current 30- or 90-day period for which a dispensing fee was previously paid, CMS said in the transmittal. Each inhalation drug supplier will be allowed no more than 12 months of dispensing fees per beneficiary per year, and Medicare will not pay separately for compounding drugs.
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