Friday November 3, 4:00 am Eastern Time
Press Release
In-Office Reimbursement Rates Increased For VidaMed's TUNA Treatment
FREMONT, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 3, 2000--VidaMed, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIDA - news) announced today that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has published revisions to the payment rates for minimally invasive heat therapies for the treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) in the urologist's office. Coverage of the Company's TUNA (Transurethral Needle Ablation) treatment is included in this revised ruling, which is published in the Federal Register and is considered by HCFA to be a final ruling with comment period.
The calculated payment rates for the TUNA treatment will be phased in over one year commencing January 1, 2001. The published reimbursement rates for the in-office TUNA procedure, which are subject to a geographic adjustment factor, are estimated at $2,455 per procedure in 2001 and $3,043 per procedure beginning January 1, 2002. This represents an increase over the previously announced proposed rates of $2,315 in 2001 and $2,866 in 2002.
``We are very pleased with HCFA's decision to increase the reimbursement rates for in-office TUNA procedures,'' said Randy Lindholm, President and Chief Executive Officer. ``We believe that the convenience of a safe, effective and precise in-office procedure like TUNA, combined with the increased reimbursement rates, will allow the TUNA treatment to become the standard of care in the setting for which it was designed, the urologist's office. We know that TUNA offers significant benefit to BPH patients, and with the new HCFA in-office rates, it also offers economic benefit to our physician customers.'' |
