On June 27th, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that they are reconsidering the National Coverage Determination (NCD) for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). A NCD is a nationwide policy on whether Medicare will pay for a particular item or service, and under what circumstances. The current NCD lays out requirements for TAVR procedures used for the treatment of severe symptomatic aortic stenosis according to an FDA-approved indication. Reopening the NCD means that CMS is reexamining how TAVR will be covered and reimbursed moving forward. The new determination could impact access to TAVR—potentially widening or limiting the ability of patients to get TAVR.

On March 26th, 2019, CMS released its proposed updates to its TAVR coverage and requested feedback from the public, including the patient community, by Thursday, April 25th.  The Alliance for Aging Research submitted comments to CMS Administrator Seema Verma and the CMS Coverage Analysis Group which were co-signed by a dozen other patient advocacy organizations, including:

• Alliance for Aging Research
• Alliance for Patient Access
• Association of Black Cardiologists
• Caregiver Action Network
• HealthyWomen
• Heart Valve Voice US
• Mended Hearts
• Men’s Health Network
• National Black Nurses Association
• National Hispanic Medical Association
• National Medical Association
• National Minority Quality Forum
• Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health
• RetireSafe

You can read the comments here.