Overall payments for top drugs to dip slightly; more individual prices go up

Why This Topic Matters

Quarterly Medicare drug payment updates can affect claims processing, revenue forecasting, and charge review for practices billing Part B drugs. The article helps readers identify that a new ASP release is in effect, understand the scope of the update, and recognize which commonly billed drugs experienced notable changes.

Article Sections

1. Medicare Part B drug payment update for first quarter 2010

   Overview of the quarterly Medicare drug pricing release and its effective dates. Summarizes broad movement across high-volume drugs and the overall ASP-based payment environment.

2. Payment change distribution across the ASP list

   Breakdown of how many drugs and biologicals increased, decreased, stayed the same, or were newly assigned payment amounts. Also notes entries that were not carried forward from the prior quarter.

3. Top-billed drugs with payment increase

   Table of selected high-volume drugs that saw payment increases in the first quarter 2010 update. Focuses on the drugs with the most notable upward changes.

4. Top-billed drugs with payment decrease

   Table of selected high-volume drugs that saw payment decreases in the first quarter 2010 update. Focuses on the drugs with the most notable downward changes.

5. Source note and availability of the ASP list

   Brief source attribution and a note about where the full ASP list could be obtained. Includes the article’s closing administrative information.