Medicare claws back money for dubious exosome treatments

From Medpage Today by Kristina Fiore

Medicare is clawing back money it paid doctors for dubious birth tissue injections — a move that likely could put some clinics out of business, an orthopedic surgeon told MedPage Today.

In late February, seven U.S. regional Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) announced that they will seek to recover losses from claims going back more than 2 years, for shots that cost some $2,000 apiece. For clinics that injected patients in multiple joints with at least two doses per joint, that could total thousands of dollars per day…

The notice applies to amniotic, placental, and umbilical cord injectables, which the WPS notice describes as “experimental exosome biologic products that have not proven to be safe and effective for any medical use.”