CMS HPMS Memo, Part D Payment for Drugs for Beneficiaries Enrolled in Hospice—Final 2014 Guidance (Mar. 10, 2014), preamble

On December 6, 2013, CMS issued a memorandum seeking to clarify the criteria for determining

payment responsibility under the Part A hospice benefit and Part D for drugs for hospice

beneficiaries. Based on these clarifications we suggested revised expectations for Part D

sponsors to prevent duplicate payments for drugs covered under the hospice benefit or waived

through the beneficiary’s hospice election. We issued that guidance for industry review and

comment. We thank all who took the time to respond for your thoughtful comments in response

to our request.

We recognize there are many outstanding questions and agree that rulemaking is required to

resolve most of those issues. In the meantime, we have addressed many of your comments in

revising the following Part D guidance for 2014. As we undertake future rulemaking, we will

take all commenter submissions into consideration.

CMS subject matter experts will be available on the April 9, 2014 Part C&D User Call to answer

any questions from Part D sponsors related to this guidance. Additionally, questions can also be

submitted to PARTDPOLICY@cms.hhs.gov. When submitting questions to this mailbox related

to this guidance, please include “Hospice” in the subject line.

2014 Guidance for Part D Sponsors