America’s Blood Centers joined the national blood community in submitting a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requesting that the agency ) expeditiously update its coverage and reimbursement policies for COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) to ensure that patients have access to CCP furnished in both the outpatient and inpatient settings of care, as permitted under the recently revised Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
On December 28, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a revised EUA for CCP that authorizes “the use of the authorized COVID-19 convalescent plasma with high titers of anti-SARS- CoV-2 antibodies for treatment of COVID-19 in patients with immunosuppressive disease or receiving immunosuppressive treatment, in either the outpatient or inpatient setting.”
However, CMS’ current billing and reimbursement policies for CCP only apply to the hospital inpatient setting.