Millennium Laboratories, a leading provider of therapeutic drug monitoring and education to physicians and staff treating chronic pain patients, has announced the launch of an advocacy campaign to fight reimbursement cuts to point-of-care (POC) urine drug screen devices. Millennium will be presenting a solution to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on September 10, 2009.
Millennium Laboratories’ proposed solution has three-fold benefits to Medicare, physicians, their pain patients, and to society. The solution will:
- Save Medicare dollars by moderating reimbursement rather than eliminating it.
- Retain POC urine drug screening as a critical diagnostic tool for physicians.
- Help protect patients and the public from the harmful consequences of prescription drug abuse.
Current Situation of Concern
Presently, a proposal is before CMS to drastically cut reimbursement for point-of-care test (POCT) devices used in urine drug screening. Outside interests are proposing these drastic cuts to CMS based on the premise that physicians should not bill CMS for multiple drug tests when doing in-office urine analysis. If only it were that simple.
Controlled prescription drug diversion and abuse cost public and private health insurers $72.5 billion per year, much of which is passed to consumers through higher health insurance premiums (2009 National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment – Drug Enforcement Agency). The White House Office of Management and Budget estimates that, including crime, loss of productivity and government anti-drug programs, the cost is $300 billion a year.
Physicians have few tools at their disposal for early detection of illicit drug use and drug diversion in patients. By limiting the physician’s reimbursement to conduct POCT to levels which are three to four times below their cost, the effect is disastrous. Millennium’s proposal is to moderate reimbursement rates to a level that allows physicians to retain the tool and properly cover their costs.
Early drug abuse intervention techniques reduce patient morbidity and mortality and decrease overall costs to society. POCTs also assist physicians who may under-prescribe legitimate medications for chronic pain patients because they fear the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) scrutiny and reprisal. POCTs are tools which achieve a balance between preventing drug abuse and diversion and maintaining proper levels of pain control for patients.
First Line of Defense against Drug Abuse: POCTs Save Lives
James Slattery, CEO of Millennium Laboratories, said, “As a former police officer I witnessed first hand the pain and destruction drug abuse has had on individuals, families, communities and our society. In 2007, I founded Millennium Laboratories to play a broader role in stemming the tide of prescription drug abuse, addiction and diversion.”