Wall Street investors rebounded from the jolt delivered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week, regaining most of the value lost after the agency announced stiffer rules for its coverage of some medical procedures.
The new pre-reimbursement review program will ask doctors to provide up-front justification for certain medical equipment and types of claims. Set to launch in 11 states next month, it will flip the reimbursement system from the agency’s existing “pay-and-chase” method of looking for improper payments after they’ve already been made.
CMS will focus on 15 medical procedures, including pacemaker and defibrillator surgeries, spinal fusions and joint replacements, for potential errors and fraud.
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That news had a hand in sending med-tech stock down Dec. 2, even as the major indices capped off a week of growth. That trend reversed itself Monday and yesterday, as most of the major med-tech players recouped some value since the markets closed Friday:
| COMPANY | Change since 12/2 |
| Abbott (NYSE:ABT): | 0.7% |
| Baxter (NYSE:BAX): | 0.4% |
| C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR): | 0.2% |
| Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX): | 1.6% |
| Covidien (NYSE:COV): | -1.4% |
| Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW): | 0.3% |
| Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG): | 1.4% |
| Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): | 0.0% |
| Medtronic (NYSE:MDT): | 3.8% |
| NuVasive (NSDQ:NUVA): | 10.4% |
| Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN): | 1.4% |
| St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ): | 3.1% |
| Stryker Corp. (NYSE:SYK): | 1.9% |
| Wright Medical Group (NSDQ:WMGI): | 4.4% |
| Zimmer Holdings (NYSE:ZMH): | 1.6% |
The CMS plan would involve some health care providers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina and Texas. They’ll have to obtain prior authorization for certain medical devices if they plan to submit for Medicare reimbursement.
