Zimmer Biomet's Persona IQ smart knee implant earned CMS' New Technology Add-on Payment, the company's COO Ivan Tornos said in a May 2 earnings call.
The NTAP indication will go into effect in October, Mr. Tornos said in the call. It will enable an additional payment of about $850 more per knee.
"The NTAP is not going to impact every single patient, but it's a sizable amount of patients that are going to benefit from the additional reimbursement," he said, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. "And again, it's just another reminder that this is breakthrough technology, first to market, new to market that will make a difference."
Mr. Tornos said he hopes commercial payers will follow CMS' lead.
"As we expand the number of patients that benefit from this technology, we're able to validate the clinical claims, and this will become a new standard of care," he said. "This will impact not just Medicare patients, but also commercial patients."
Note: This article was updated May 9.