Medicare to Reimburse for Implantable Miniature Telescope for End-Stage Macular Degeneration
September 12, 2011
This blog has been following the rollout of VisionCare’s Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz) to improve vision in patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) from FDA approval of the implantable miniature telescope to a study indicating that the implantable miniature telescope does improve quality of life.
VisionCare announced last week that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had granted transitional pass-through payment status and established a billing code for the Implantable Miniature Telescope under the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System. The new pass-through code, C1840, is effective October 1, 2011 and will enable outpatient facilities to obtain reimbursement for the telescope implant for covered procedures.
Eligible patients must have associated central vision blindness and either stopped responding to AMD medications, or have a form of the disease for which no treatment is available.
The telescope implantation is performed by a specially trained ophthalmic surgeon as an outpatient procedure as part of a comprehensive treatment program for end-stage AMD known as CentraSight, developed to help patients follow the necessary steps for proper diagnosis, surgical evaluation, and postoperative care.
Click here to read the full release.
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