LAUSANNE, Switzerland— Second Sight Medical Products announced that its Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System (Argus II) has been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for both a new technology add-on payment (inpatient setting of care) and a transitional pass through payment (outpatient setting of care) beginning Oct. 1, 2013. This decision follows the annual NUB funding approval for Argus II for the last three years in Germany and limited local government funding in the NHS Hospital of Pisa in Italy. These payments are designed to support timely access to innovative technologies for insured patients.


According to the recent CMS announcement, cases involving the Argus II System are eligible for new technology add-on payments under the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System in the US. Additionally, CMS has also established a transitional pass through payment for Argus II. This payment will be available to all hospital outpatient facilities and Ambulatory Surgical Centers that perform this procedure for Medicare beneficiaries.

Second Sight’s U.S. headquarters is in Sylmar, Calif., and European headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland.