
It’s likely, he adds, that at least half the lanes at both bridges would still accept cash.).
#Macpass commercial drivers
If the URB agrees, the commission plans to provide more express lanes for drivers who attach the credit-card sized MacPass antenna to their windshields (Snider says the commission hasn’t decided yet, exactly, how many bridge lanes would be MacPass-only and how many would still accept coins. Snider estimates the bridge commission would also save $200,000 in annual administration costs if the Utilities and Review Board approves the plan to ditch the tokens by 2008.

MacPass would reduce traffic congestion, saving more than 81 thousand hours a year in time and 1.7 million litres of fuel, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 4.2 million tonnes. He adds that consultants have worked out an “astounding set of numbers” to demonstrate the benefits if 80 percent of drivers sign up for MacPass (at present, just over half of them have).

“MacPass is by far, from the bridge commission perspective and for the majority of our customers, the most efficient way to pay the tolls,” says the commission’s general manager Steve Snider. Medicaid payment for drugs varies among the states and often within a setting of care.ĭiagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are often packaged into payment for the procedure.So, the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission wants to phase out tokens in its campaign to get more people to sign up for MacPass, the electronic payment system that lets drivers breeze through the toll booths without a care in the world. Imaging services are typically subject to prior authorization. The drug is usually packaged into the procedure payment. Packaged into payment for procedures unless Pass-Through Status is in effectīased on Average Wholesale Price (AWP), Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC), Invoice, or Allowable.Ĭommercial insurance rates are paid per the contractual agreements with providers. Physician Offices & Freestanding Imaging Centers Commercial InsurersĬommercial Insurers typically bundle payment for the scan and the drug the payment rate is per their contractual agreement with the provider. However, per the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, most are paid at or near the current year’s HOPPS rate. The PET scans are “carrier priced” which means that the payment is decided when the claims are processed. Pass-Through Status is not applicable in these sites. The Medicare payment for radiopharmaceuticals in non-hospital settings of care, such as the physician office or independent diagnostic testing facility (IDTF), is 95% of AWP, WAC +6%, invoice, or an allowable as set by the MAC. The national average CMS payment for most PET scans will be $1377.12 in 2018. Upon expiration of Pass-Through Status, payment for the drug is bundled into the payment for the scan. (In the case of PET procedures, FDG is the most common drug used.) Thus, CMS establishes “offset” rates so that there is not duplicate payment when reimbursing for the new drug with Pass-Through Status. If ASP is not provided, CMS will pay Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) + 6% or reimburse at 95% of the drug’s most recent Average Wholesale Price (AWP).Ī portion of the procedure payment rate reflects the cost of the drugs that are used for the scans. If the manufacturer submits an Average Sales Price to CMS, the agency will reimburse the drug at ASP +6%. Beginning in 2017, CMS changed the timing of the Pass-Through Status expiration to quarterly rather than annually, so as to afford a pass-through period as close to 3 years as possible.

Pass-Through Status provides separate payment for a new, FDA-approved radiopharmaceutical for at least 2 but no more than 3 years. However, CMS considers the diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals to be drugs when determining Pass-Through Status for payment in the hospital outpatient setting of care. As such, they package payment for them into the payment for the procedure.

In the hospital setting, CMS considers diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals as supplies necessary to perform the scan. Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS)
