Application for Participation in the Intravenous Immune Globulin (IVIG) Demonstration (CMS-10518)

Traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare covers some or all components of home infusion services depending on the circumstances. By special statutory provision, Medicare Part B covers intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) for persons with primary immune deficiency disease (PIDD) who wish to receive the drug at home. However, Medicare does not separately pay for any services or supplies to administer it if the person is not homebound and otherwise receiving services under a Medicare Home Health episode of care. As a result, many beneficiaries have chosen to receive the drug at their doctor's office or in an outpatient hospital setting. Alternatively, some beneficiaries have elected to self-administer the drug subcutaneously. The "Medicare IVIG Access and Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act of 2012" authorizes a 3 year demonstration under Part B of Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to evaluate the benefits of providing payment for items and services needed for the in-home administration of intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) for the treatment of primary immune deficiency disease (PIDD). The demonstration is limited to 4,000 beneficiaries and $45 million, including administrative expenses for implementation and evaluation as well as benefit costs. Participation is voluntary and may be terminated by the beneficiary at any time. CMS has designed the IVIG demonstration to pay a bundled payment for all medically necessary supplies and related nursing services to administer the drug. In processing all services and supplies needed for the administration of IVIG, CMS is not making any changes to existing coverage determinations to receive the IVIG drug in the home or for services and supplies that are otherwise not covered under the traditional FFS Medicare Part B benefit. Moreover, the demonstration only applies to situations where the beneficiary is receiving the immune globulin intravenously. This demonstration does not apply if the immune globulin is administered subcutaneously. Only those beneficiaries with PIDD who are eligible to receive IVIG under the current Medicare benefit (e.g. have PIDD, have Part B, and have traditional fee-for-service Medicare) will be eligible to enroll in the demonstration and have the new demonstration services paid for. Participation in the demonstration is voluntary. Beneficiaries who choose not to participate will continue to be eligible to receive all benefits under the traditional Medicare fee for service program. In order to be eligible for the demonstration, a beneficiary must complete an application form and be enrolled in the demonstration. The purpose of this PRA submission is to gain input and approval for the application form that beneficiaries will need to complete in order to participate in the demonstration. On September 28, 2017, Congress passed the ‘‘Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017’’. Section 302 of this legislation extends the Medicare IVIG Demonstration through December 31, 2020. While existing beneficiaries enrolled in the demonstration as of September 30, 2017 were automatically re-enrolled, in order to continue to enroll new beneficiaries into the demonstration, an application is required. The purpose of this renewal request is provide for the continued use of the application form through the end of the new demonstration period.

The latest form for Application for Participation in the Intravenous Immune Globulin (IVIG) Demonstration (CMS-10518) expires 2021-05-31 and can be found here.