The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will not enforce procedural volume requirements for four cardiovascular national coverage determinations (NCDs) for the duration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) under a new interim final rule released this week.

The NCDs for left atrial appendage closure, transcatheter aortic replacement, transcatheter mitral repair, and ventricular assist devices all include procedure volume requirements for facilities and/or operators. However, with the delay of non-essential services due to COVID-19, many of these procedures have not been performed as scheduled, leaving facilities and operators falling short of meeting the volume requirements. The ACC had previously communicated to CMS and Congress that this requirement should be waived.

In addition to waiving enforcement of the volume requirements, the new CMS rule also clarifies that this non-enforcement flexibility applies to facilities and operators who met the volume requirements prior to the COVID-19 PHE. ACC Advocacy staff have inquired whether similar flexibility would be granted to new sites that were about to meet procedure volume standards and come online, and will update members as information is received.

Clinical Topics: COVID-19 Hub

Keywords: ACC Advocacy, Coronavirus, Medicare, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S., Medicaid, COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

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