ASC Association Seeks Action on Drug Shortage Issues

2/2/2012

ASC Association Government Affairs Update
February 2, 2012

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) is currently seeking members of the House of Representatives to join him in sending a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius regarding a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guideline on the use of single-use vials. Under the guideline vials that have been labeled as single-use cannot be used for multiple patients and must be discarded after use.

The CDC defines a single use vial as one that contains only one dose of medication. However, health care providers report that manufactures are increasingly labeling vials “single-use” when they actually contain several doses of medication. The requirement to follow CMS’s guidelines for these large single use vials has had the unintended effect of forcing physicians and health care facilities to waste unused portions of drugs, even some drugs that are already deemed in short supply and that are hard to obtain. Many ASCs have recently had trouble obtaining supplies of critical anesthesia drugs, such as Versed and Fentyl. The letter points out this problem and notes that “there is no evidence that transmission of blood borne pathogens during health care procedures continue to occur because of the use of single dose vials in multiple patients when appropriate sterile procedures are used.”

If you would like to contact your Member of Congress and request that they sign the Whitfield letter, please click here.

Letters from Members of Congress to federal agencies are a way for Congress to weigh in on regulatory matters and seek changes in the way regulations are interpreted or enforced. To read the congressional letter to Secretary Sebelius, click here.

For more information, contact Morgan Hanson at mhanson@ascassociation.org.