In August, Dr. Aoki was delighted to personally present information about the scientific aspects of MAT®  treatment, its history and long term safety record to a meeting of  CMS and FDA staff.   

In mid-September,  the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)  published theirProposed Decision regarding Medicare coverage for the class of therapy it calls Outpatient Intravenous Insulin Therapy (OIVIT) which includes MAT® treatment.  The Proposed Decision is not in favor of covering any type of outpatient intravenous insulin therapy.  Public Comments were posted in response to the CMS Proposed Decision.

Unfortunately the CMS Proposed Decision included many misunderstandings regarding MAT® treatment.  Hopefully these misunderstandings will be corrected when CMS discusses the therapy with medical experts before their  Final Coverage Decision.  Insurance providers such as Medicare have had difficulty in the past understanding this unique therapy and the published scientific data supporting its use.  Response to many of the Medicare concerns can be found in the Response by Dr. Aoki  to the Blue Shield Technology Assessment of  2001.  Ultimately, the California Courts ruled that Blue Shield could not deny payment for the patients receiving MAT® treatments at ADRI.   Another very cogent  argument on whether MAT® treatment is “reasonable and necessary” is contained in the Administrative Law Judge’s decision requiring CalPERS or it’s third party administrator to provide payment for this therapy.