The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is legally challenging the sequestration of Medicare Part B drug reimbursement payments.

Part B drugs administered in the physician’s office are generally reimbursed at average sales price (ASP) plus 6%, a rate set in statute by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). However, the Budget Control Act of 2011 put a 2% sequestration on the federal budget, effective April 1, 2013, and extended numerous times after, most recently in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. This has the effect of lowering Part B drug reimbursement to ASP + 4.3%.

COA filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a permanent injunction against the 2% budget sequestration as it is applied to Part B drugs.

“We are filing to see an injunction against the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget [OMB] because we have exhausted all possibilities in stopping what is an unconstitutional application of the 2% sequester cut to Part B drug reimbursement,” COA President Jeff Vacirca, MD, and Executive Director Ted Okon said.

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