Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 11.10.2000

Public Meeting on Medicare Coverage of Clinical Trials

In the past, Medicare has not paid for health care services provided as part of clinical trials because of their experimental nature. To carry out an executive memorandum from the President of the United States to the Secretary of Health and Human Services received on June 7, 2000 directing Medicare to provide for payment of routine patient care costs incurred by Medicare beneficiaries in connection with participation in clinical trials, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has issued a National Coverage Decision. In order to implement this new coverage policy for routine costs in clinical trials, HCFA must define the clinical trials for which payment of routine costs would be appropriate. Therefore, HCFA requested AHRQ to convene a multi-agency Federal group to develop readily verifiable criteria by which to identify trials that meet an appropriate standard of quality. The qualifying criteria will be developed under the authority to support health care research in Sec. 1142 of the Social Security Act (Act). This notice announces a public meeting for the purpose of receiving oral and written comments on easily verifiable qualifying criteria for identifying sound clinical