Highmark Announces "Coverage with Evidence Development-Like" Program

Highmark announces a program called VITAL for selected new technologies.  VITAL is described as, "a program that aims to accelerate the adoption of new technologies that have received regulatory approval but are not yet covered by most commercial insurance companies."

According to the industry website Healthcare Dive:

     “Technologies that have received regulatory approval from the FDA often lack sufficient scientific data to convince commercial insurers to pay for them,” the company says. “Without support from commercial payers, it is difficult for new innovations to influence the practice of medicine.”
     Highmark Health aims to influence this process through its position as the country’s third-largest integrated healthcare delivery and financing system. It describes the VITAL program as “the missing link between FDA approval of an innovative technology and its full reimbursement.”

For more on Highmark and this program, see Healthcare Dive, here.

Healthcare Dive's home page is here.  See also their BioPharma Dive, here.  Both are good industry news sources.