CMS RECHARTERS MEDTECH COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee (MCAC) has been rechartered through 2008, which includes updating the committee's role in determining Medicare national coverage.

The recharter extends the life of the committee through fall 2008, with the following changes:

The committee has been redesignated from the MCAC to the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC); MedCAC now has an explicit responsibility to advise the CMS on coverage with evidence development. This involves "the issuance of national coverage determinations that include, as a condition of payment, requirements for developing additional clinical data on a particular medical technology;" and The role of patient advocates on the committee has been formalized.

A guidance document to accompany the changes in the MedCAC charter, titled "Factors CMS Considers in Referring Topics to the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee," can be found at www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/ncpc_view_document.asp?id=10 (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/ncpc_view_document.asp?id=10).

Details about the committee are available at www.cms.hhs.gov/FACA/Downloads/medcaccharter.pdf (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/FACA/Downloads/medcaccharter.pdf).