Please Add Your Name to Our Petition
The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America opposes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recent proposal to retire the existing plasmapheresis coverage policy. Medicare has proposed retiring the existing national coverage policy for plasmapheresis (NCD 110.14). Your medical provider or plasmapheresis center might call plasmapheresis by a different name, such as therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), apheresis, or PLEX. Lack of formal national coverage for plasmapheresis could regionally LIMIT access to this life-saving treatment for patients including those in our myasthenia community.
Please read the letter below and submit your name and email address on the form to the right of this page so you can be listed on our petition opposing this coverage policy change. MGFA will be submitting this official letter and all petition names by Monday, October 5, 2020. Please sign your name today. For more information about Plasmapheresis, please see our MGFA brochure HERE.
Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America Opposes Retiring of Existing Plasmapheresis Coverage Policy
Newly proposed changes to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) may have a significant negative impact on access to care for people living with myasthenia gravis. The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America opposes the CMS’s proposal to retire the existing plasmapheresis coverage policy.
Medicare has proposed retiring the existing coverage policy for plasmapheresis, also called therapeutic apheresis (NCD 110.14). The current policy has been in place since 1992. If this policy is retired, coverage of therapeutic apheresis procedures will be at the discretion of the regional Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) in each region or state as opposed to the national coverage that is currently in place. Lack of formal national coverage for plasmapheresis could create widespread procedure access issues for patients.
Although this would directly affect people insured by Medicare, many other insurers (Medicaid, and private insurance companies) often follow Medicare policy changes. The lack of formal national coverage would lead to significant inconsistencies in insurance coverage, and potential patient denials for plasmapheresis treatments. Plasmapheresis is a life-saving procedure for people living with myasthenia gravis with sudden breathing and swallowing difficulties (myasthenia crisis).
The procedure removes disease-causing antibodies and inflammatory proteins that cause weakness and impair breathing and swallowing in myasthenia. The current national coverage policy covers plasmapheresis for myasthenia gravis crisis. We are concerned about geographic disparities in medical care access if coverage of plasmapheresis for myasthenia gravis is determined regionally.
It is especially important to protect plasmapheresis coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic since access to medical care has been so restricted. Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America is committed to advocating for patient access to care. We need your support to ensure people living with myasthenia gravis continue to receive the life-saving therapies they rely on. We are urging CMS to reconsider the proposed retirement of NCD 110.14.
Signed:
Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America & Board of Directors