In full transparency, the following is a media release from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office. She was elected by voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to serve the state in Washington DC in the US Senate. She is a Democrat. (stock photo)
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WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and U.S. Representatives Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) sent a letter to the National Committee on Vital Health and Statistics (NCVHS), calling on the committee to support the inclusion of device identifier (DI) information on Medicare claims forms in its recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the next version of standard transactions.
“The inclusion of device identifiers on claims transactions would greatly improve the health system’s ability to identify risks and reach patients who may be affected by device failures,” wrote the lawmakers. “We have extensively advocated for DI information to be collected in both electronic health records and on claims transactions to help reduce health risks and costs to the Medicare system.”
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Their letter follows the American National Standards Institute’s Accredited Standards Committee’s (X12) June 2022 formal recommendation to NCVHS to include the DI portion of a medical device’s unique device identifier on Medicare claims forms. In its recommendation to NCVHS, X12 stressed that “(i)ncluding device identifier information on claims transactions greatly improves the industry’s ability to identify risks and reach patients who may be affected by device failures,” “improves patient outcomes and reduces patient health risks and enhances tracking and reporting related to specific devices,” and “also (saves) taxpayer funds.”
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MetroWest Medical Center