CMS declares no change in payment policies for ESAs
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
In issuing its final decree, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) stuck with the preliminary decision it issued in March to not impose payment restrictions on erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs), like Amgen's Epogen (epoetin alfa) and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) and Centocor Ortho Biotech's Procrit's (epoetin alfa), for use in managing anemia in dialysis or non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.