Stark -- Statement on GAO Study Recommending Changes to ESRD Bundled Payments

Dec 10, 2012

WASHINGTON – Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Stark (D-CA) issued the following statement on the GAO report released today that suggests that the Medicare dialysis rate substantially overpays for certain end-stage renal disease (ESRD) drugs.  The report recommends Congress rebase the ESRD bundled payment to reflect the lower utilization. GAO asserts that doing so could have saved up to $880 million in 2011 alone, and preliminary data suggest even greater savings in future years. 

Read the full GAO report here.

Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Stark: “GAO's report verifies that the current ESRD bundled payment is too high. Use of Epogen has fallen dramatically in the years since it was folded into the bundle, and we ought to rebase to a more appropriate rate.  Equally troubling, however, are the allegations in the report that Amgen is substantially raising its prices to offset lower utilization and protect its profits at the expense of taxpayers. As we begin our annual task of preventing the SGR's upcoming blunt cuts to physician payments, GAO's report highlights a key option that could help pay for this effort by generating substantial savings without benefit cuts or cost shifts to Medicare patients or others."

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