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LivaNova urges higher Medicaid payments for vagus nerve stimulation; committee reports bill
Summary
A LivaNova official told the Senate Medicaid Committee that Mississippi Medicaid rates for vagus nerve stimulation are far below Medicare and neighboring states, prompting the committee to report Senate Bill 2674 and send it to appropriations for more detailed review.
Dave Weinberg, director of field market access for the Southern U.S. at LivaNova, told the Senate Medicaid Committee that Senate Bill 2674 would raise outpatient reimbursement for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) surgery to match Medicare's 2026 outpatient rates and align Mississippi with surrounding states.
"Mississippi Medicaid's outpatient reimbursement for VNS procedures is significantly below Medicare and below most Southern states," Weinberg said, and he told the committee that the payment gap "has placed significant pressure on hospitals, leading some to stop offering the procedure altogether." Weinberg said the bill would set payments of $45,000 for CPT 64568 and $35,000 for CPT 61885 for outpatient surgical VNS procedures.
Weinberg argued higher payments would preserve timely access for Medicaid patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and produce long-term savings for Medicaid programs, saying VNS "is well documented to deliver durable, robust clinical benefit." After his presentation he invited committee questions and noted he would provide more detail at a follow-up appropriations hearing.
The committee chair called the title sufficient to pass, the committee held a voice vote with the ayes prevailing, and the bill was reported out of the Senate Medicaid Committee; the chair said the measure is double-referred to appropriations and that a hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. The transcript records a voice vote only; no roll-call tally was recorded during this session.
