CMS Manual Transmittal on Authorized Compendia for Off-Label Uses of Cancer Drugs
On January 30, CMS issued a Medicare Benefit Policy Manual transmittal entitled "Revision of Definition of Compendia as Authoritative Source for Use in the Determination of a Medically-Accepted Indication of Drugs/Biologicals Used Off-label in Anti-Cancer Chemotherapeutic Regimens." The transmittal makes changes to conform to the MIPPA compendia requirement that provides that effective January 1, 2010, no compendia may be included on the list of authorized compendia unless it has a publicly-transparent process for evaluating therapies and for identifying potential conflicts of interests.
