[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 42, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 42CFR419.66]

[Page 802-803]
 
                         TITLE 42--PUBLIC HEALTH
 
                             HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 419--PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM FOR HOSPITAL OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
              Subpart G--Transitional Pass-through Payments
 
Sec. 419.66  Transitional pass-through payments: Medical devices.

    (a) General rule. CMS makes a pass-through payment for a medical 
device that meets the requirements in paragraph (b) of this section and 
that is described by a category of devices established by CMS under the 
criteria in paragraph (c) of this section.
    (b) Eligibility. A medical device must meet the following 
requirements:
    (1) If required by the FDA, the device must have received FDA 
approval or clearance (except for a device that has received an FDA 
investigational device exemption (IDE) and has been classified as a 
Category B device by the FDA in accordance with Secs. 405.203 through 
405.207 and 405.211 through 405.215 of this chapter) or another 
appropriate FDA exemption.
    (2) The device is determined to be reasonable and necessary for the 
diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury or to improve the 
functioning of a malformed body part (as required by section 
1862(a)(1)(A) of the Act).
    (3) The device is an integral and subordinate part of the service 
furnished, is used for one patient only, comes in contact with human 
tissue, and is surgically implanted or inserted whether or not it 
remains with the patient when the patient is released from the hospital.
    (4) The device is not any of the following:
    (i) Equipment, an instrument, apparatus, implement, or item of this 
type for which depreciation and financing expenses are recovered as 
depreciable assets as defined in Chapter 1 of the Medicare Provider 
Reimbursement Manual (CMS Pub. 15-1).
    (ii) A material or supply furnished incident to a service (for 
example, a suture, customized surgical kit, or clip, other than 
radiological site marker).
    (iii) A material that may be used to replace human skin (for 
example, a biological or synthetic material).
    (c) Criteria for establishing device categories. CMS uses the 
following criteria to establish a category of devices under this 
section:
    (1) CMS determines that a device to be included in the category is 
not described by any of the existing categories, and was not being paid 
for as an outpatient service as of December 31, 1996.
    (2) CMS determines that a device to be included in the category has 
demonstrated that it will substantially improve the diagnosis or 
treatment of an illness or injury or improve the functioning of a 
malformed body part compared to the benefits of a device or devices in a 
previously established category or other available treatment.
    (3) Except for medical devices identified in paragraph (e) of this 
section, CMS determines the cost of the device is not insignificant as 
described in paragraph (d) of this section.
    (d) Cost criteria. CMS considers the average cost of a category of 
devices to be not insignificant if it meets the following conditions:
    (1) The estimated average reasonable cost of devices in the category 
exceeds 25 percent of the applicable APC payment amount for the service 
related to the category of devices.
    (2) The estimated average reasonable cost of the devices in the 
category exceeds the cost of the device-related portion of the APC 
payment amount for the related service by at least 25 percent.
    (3) The difference between the estimated average reasonable cost of 
the devices in the category and the portion of the APC payment amount 
for the device exceeds 10 percent of the APC payment amount for the 
related service.
    (e) Devices exempt from cost criteria. The following medical devices 
are not subject to the cost requirements described in paragraph (d) of 
this section, if payment for the device was being made as an outpatient 
service on August 1, 2000:
    (1) A device of brachytherapy.
    (2) A device of temperature-monitored cryoablation.
    (f) Identifying a category for a device. A device is described by a 
category, if it meets the following conditions:

[[Page 803]]

    (1) Matches the long descriptor of the category code established by 
CMS.
    (2) Conforms to guidance issued by CMS relating to the definition of 
terms and other information in conjunction with the category descriptors 
and codes.
    (g) Limited period of payment for devices. CMS limits the 
eligibility for a pass-through payment established under this section to 
a period of at least 2 years, but not more than 3 years beginning on the 
date that CMS establishes a category of devices.
    (h) Amount of pass-through payment. Subject to any reduction 
determined under Sec. 419.62(b), the pass-through payment for a device 
is the hospital's charge for the device, adjusted to the actual cost for 
the device, minus the amount included in the APC payment amount for the 
device.