SARATOGA, Calif.— VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will reimburse its Implantable Miniature Telescope under a revised Ambulatory Payment Classification designation, APC 0351, Level V Intraocular Procedures. The announcement was included as part of CMS' CY 2015 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Payment System final rule.

The outpatient surgical procedure for telescope implantation has been restricted to hospitals until now due to current reimbursement rules, despite the fact that approximately 80 percent of ophthalmic surgical procedures are performed in local ASCs, according to VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies. The CMS ruling provides the mechanisms needed for broad ASC adoption of the therapy, which will significantly improve patient access and bolster ophthalmologist and health care provider efficiency, the company said. When the new designation for APC 0351 code takes effect on Jan. 1, 2015, reimbursement payment levels will increase overall and ASC payment levels will be comparable to those paid to hospital outpatient departments.

"We envisioned and designed the CentraSight program to function within the Medicare system to better assure the telescope implant will be broadly assessable and within financial reach of most Medicare eligible individuals," said Allen W. Hill, president and CEO, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies. "It is vitally important to both patients and their health care providers that our telescope implant procedure be available and economically viable in local ASCs where ophthalmologists conduct the vast majority of their surgical procedures. This CMS ruling will go a long way in helping make this a reality."
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Implantable Miniature Telescope for use in patients living with bilateral end-stage age-related macular degeneration who are age 65 or older. The telescope implant is the only FDA approved surgical device for end-stage AMD and is Medicare eligible.