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Medicare should recalculate dialysis drug payments, auditor says

A report to be released today by the Health and Human Services Department recommends that the agency that runs Medicare recalculate its payments to dialysis centers to reflect current trends in drug acquisition costs.

By Alex Wayne | Updated on March 25, 2014

March 25 (Bloomberg) — Dialysis centers run by DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc., Fresenius Medical Care AG and other companies aren’t being paid correctly by the Medicare program because the U.S. is miscalculating drug costs, government auditors said.

A report to be released today by the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Inspector General recommended that the agency that runs Medicare recalculate its payments to dialysis centers “to reflect current trends in drug acquisition costs.” Prices paid by dialysis centers for Amgen Inc.’s Epogen, the most expensive drug they use, increased at least 17 percent from 2009 to 2012, according to the report. Prices for other drugs fell, often by more than Medicare estimated.

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