The American Society of Clinical Oncology has publicly urged CMS to ensure patient access to CAR T-cell therapy in response to the agency's proposed 2025 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System plan.
In the plan, CMS proposed to exclude cell and gene therapies from comprehensive ambulatory payment classifications while the agency collects more data on how those therapies function for one year.
While ASCO said it supports that aspect of the proposal, it expressed concern that Medicare beneficiaries would, "continue to face barriers accessing CAR T-cell therapy unless providers are reimbursed equitably for this treatment," according to a Sept. 10 news release from the association.
ASCO said the one-year time frame for data collection is "insufficient" and recommended CMS extend the time frame to amass "transparent meaningful data," the news release said.