Advocacy — Improving access to patch testing units

Streamlining your patients’ care

When payer policies on patch testing didn’t allow you to deliver high-quality care for your patients, you alerted us, and we worked together for a solution. The AADA stepped in when two Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) — Novitas Solutions and First Coast Service — threatened to reduce skin patch testing units for allergic and other contact dermatitis through proposed Local Coverage Determination (LCD) policies. This move threatened your patients’ access to comprehensive patch testing and accurate diagnoses.

The AADA’s advocacy efforts, along with the Dermatologic Medicare Contractor Advisory Committee, ensured that both MACs understood the dermatology patient’s perspective by revising their proposed LCD and increasing the number of patch testing units from 65 to 80. This victory for dermatologists and their patients means that Medicare beneficiaries will have access to an expanded panel of tests to help treat this chronic and debilitating disease.