The Biosimilars Forum represents many of the leading voices against differential nomenclature -- except when it comes to Medicare coding.
Yesterday this group expressed “grave concern” over the proposed biosimilar payment rule issued by CMS. (CMS is proposing that multiple biosimilars to the same reference product be grouped and issued the same J-code for Medicare reimbursement purposes.)
According to Biosimilars Forum policy advisor Michael Werne, the biosimilars statute, and its legislative history “make clear that each biosimilar product — including multiple biosimilar products associated with the same originally marketed product — should be assigned a unique HCPCS code.”
According to Werne, “The lawmakers who passed the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCIA) understood that biosimilars are not the same as generic drugs and should not be treated that way in policy making.”
Per the groups press release, “Furthermore, the statute makes it clear that an interchangeability determination only applies to a specific biosimilar and the reference product, and does not apply between or among multiple biosimilars approved to a single reference product. Issuing unique HCPCS codes is essential to avoid confusion among healthcare professionals, to ensure that the proper products are dispensed to patients, and to allow a fair and predictable reimbursement to purchasers of biosimilars.”
But wait – there’s more. “The law, legislative history, and biosimilar science support the requirement that CMS assign each biosimilar biological product a unique HCPCS code and not consider biologics and biosimilars in the same fashion as generic drugs.”
And yet some members of this group are against differential nomenclature. Go figure.
(The full Biosimilars Forum press release can be found here.)
Hypocrisy is the Vaseline of political intercourse. – Billy Connolly
