Court rejects Medicare limits on Part B drug pay

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. Dec. 1, 2008 -- A federal trial court rejected a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services policy allowing Medicare claims contractors to limit payment for Part B drugs administered in a physician's office to the least costly alternative. The court in an Oct. 16 ruling found that Medicare law did not authorize CMS or the contractors to redefine payment rates that were already set in statutory formulas.