U.S. Medicare program scales back hospice drugs restrictions

[riky]

U.S. Medicare program scales back hospice drugs restrictions

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-medicare-program-scales-back-hospice-drugs-restrictions-205230210--finance.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/A2jfqgqjxupVyKp8XqWvAQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-07-18T205230Z_1_LYNXMPEA6H0YF_RTROPTP_2_USA-HEALTHCARE.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="U.S. President Obama meets with health insurance chief executives at the White House in Washington" align="left" title="U.S. President Obama meets with health insurance chief executives at the White House in Washington" border="0" /></a>The Obama administration on Friday backed down on restrictions of private insurance coverage for hospice drugs under Medicare, saying the regulations were preventing some terminally ill patients from having access to medicine. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it would now require prior-approval for coverage of only four categories of drugs: analgesics, anti-nauseants, laxatives and anti-anxiety drugs. In a regulation announced in March, the government had required prior approval for all hospice drugs under the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.</p><br clear="all"/>

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