Amgen pushes back on charges of special deal in ‘fiscal cliff’ bill

{mosads}“Amgen supports the current provision to delay including oral-only medications in the Medicare dialysis prospective payment system. Including oral-only medications in the payment system at the same time that the bundle is being rebased would have been disruptive to quality patient care,” the company said in a statement in response to Welch’s legislation.

In a response to the Times story, Amgen said Congress had previously decided to exclude orally administered dialysis medications, citing a lack of data about how the drugs are used and reimbursed.

“A two-year delay provides [Medicare] with the time needed to develop quality metrics and further develop their data systems — both things pivotal to providing quality patient care,” Amgen said.