Medicare Will Reconsider Coverage Of Treatment for Macular Degeneration

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has agreed to take another look at a treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) following a request by the American Academy of Ophthalmology to review the agency’s payment policy.

The agency on July 24 opened a national coverage determination reconsideration request to review coverage of the drug, verteporfin. The treatment, ocular photodynamic therapy (OPT), involves the infusion of verteporfin followed by exposure to a laser.

In a request sent in May, the academy called CMS’s policy concerning the therapy “extremely outdated” and said it is “being inappropriately used against ophthalmologists who are following ...