Contact Us

Phone: 1-866-61-EISAI (1-866-61-34724)

Fax: 1-866-57-EISAI (1-866-57-34724)

Monday - Friday 8AM - 8PM ET


Coding & Pricing
Billing Forms

Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG)

Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRGs) are utilized by payors to group inpatient services into a global payment amount for the hospital stay, based in part on the patient’s diagnoses at discharge. Hospitals should report the proper ICD-9-CM diagnosis code on the CMS-1450 (UB-04) claim form. Correct coding is the responsibility of the hospital submitting a claim for the item or service. Please check with the payor to verify coding or special billing requirements.

The following MS-DRG may be appropriate to report to Medicare for Gliadel® Wafer (polifeprosan 20 with carmustine implant) cases when implantation is medically reasonable and necessary.1 Other payors may assign different DRGs for Gliadel® Wafer implantation.

MS-DRG Description
023 Craniotomy with Major Device Implant or Acute Complex Central Nervous System Principal Diagnosis with MCC2 or Chemo Agent

1. Federal Register Vol. 76, No. 160. August 18, 2011. Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long- Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and FY 2012 Rates, Table 5: List of MS-DRGs, Relative Weighting Factors and Geometric and Arithmetic Mean Length of Stay. CMS Website. Available at https://www.cms.gov/AcuteInpatientPPS/FR2012/itemdetail.asp?filterType=none&filterByDID=-99&sortByDID=1&sortOrder=ascending&itemID=CMS1250520&intNumPerPage=10. Accessed November 30, 2011
2. Major complication or comorbidity

Indications

Gliadel® Wafer (polifeprosan 20 with carmustine implant) is indicated in patients with newly diagnosed high-grade malignant glioma as an adjunct to surgery and radiation. Gliadel® Wafer is also indicated in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme as an adjunct to surgery.

Important Safety Information

Gliadel® Wafer should not be given to patients who have demonstrated a previous hypersensitivity to carmustine or any of the components of Gliadel® Wafer.

Patients undergoing craniotomy for malignant glioma and implantation of GLIADEL Wafer should be monitored closely for known complications of craniotomy, including seizures, intracranial infections, abnormal wound healing, and brain edema. Cases of intracerebral mass effect unresponsive to corticosteroids have been described in patients treated with Gliadel® Wafer, including 1 case leading to brain herniation.

Carmustine, the active component of Gliadel® Wafer, can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant women. It is recommended that patients receiving Gliadel® Wafer discontinue nursing.

Communication between the surgical resection cavity and the ventricular system should be avoided to prevent the wafers from migrating into the ventricular system and causing obstructive hydrocephalus. If a communication larger than the diameter of a wafer exists, it should be closed prior to wafer implantation.

CT and MRI of the head may demonstrate enhancement in the brain tissue surrounding the resection cavity after implantation of Gliadel® Wafer. This enhancement may represent edema and inflammation caused by Gliadel® Wafer or tumor progression.

The short-term and long-term toxicity profiles of Gliadel® Wafer when given in conjunction with chemotherapy have not been fully explored.

The following 4 categories of adverse events are possibly related to treatment with Gliadel® Wafer:

Seizures: : In the initial surgery trial, the incidence of seizures was 33.3% in patients receiving Gliadel® Wafer and 37.5% in patients receiving placebo. Grand mal seizures occurred in 5% of Gliadel® Wafer-treated patients and 4.2% of placebo-treated patients. The incidence of seizures within the first 5 days after wafer implantation was 2.5% in the Gliadel® Wafer group and 4.2% in the placebo group.

In the surgery for recurrent disease trial, the incidence of post-operative seizures was 19% in both patients receiving Gliadel® Wafer and placebo. In this study, 12/22 (54%) of patients treated with Gliadel® Wafer and 2/22 (9%) of placebo patients experienced the first new or worsened seizure within the first 5 post-operative days.

The median time to onset of the first new or worsened post-operative seizure was 3.5 days in patients treated with Gliadel® Wafer and 61 days in placebo patients.

Brain Edema: In the initial surgery trial, brain edema was noted in 22.5% of patients treated with Gliadel® Wafer and in 19.2% of patients treated with placebo. Development of brain edema with mass effect (due to tumor recurrences, intracranial infection, or necrosis) may necessitate re-operation and, in some cases, removal of Gliadel® Wafer or its remnants.

Healing Abnormalities: The following healing abnormalities have been reported in clinical trials of Gliadel® Wafer clinical trials: wound dehiscence, delayed wound healing, subdural, subgaleal or wound effusions, and cerebrospinal fluid leak. In the initial surgery trial, healing abnormalities occurred in 15.8% of Gliadel® Wafer-treated patients and in 11.7% of placebo recipients. Cerebrospinal fluid leaks occurred in 5% of Gliadel® Wafer recipients and 0.8% of those given placebo.

During surgery, a water-tight dural closure should be obtained to minimize the risk of cerebrospinal fluid leak. In the surgery for recurrent disease trial, the incidence of healing abnormalities was the 14% of Gliadel® Wafer treated patients and 5% in patients receiving placebo wafers.

Intracranial Infection: In the initial surgery trial, the incidence of brain abscess or meningitis was 5% in patients treated with Gliadel® Wafer and 6% in patients receiving placebo. In the recurrent setting, the incidence of brain abscess or meningitis was 4% in patients treated with Gliadel® Wafer and 1% in patients receiving placebo.

For more information about Gliadel® Wafer please see full Prescribing Information.



Eisai cannot guarantee payment of any claim. Coding, coverage, and reimbursement may vary significantly by payor, plan, patient, and setting of care. Actual coverage and reimbursement decisions are made by individual payors following the receipt of claims. For additional information, customers should consult with their payors for all relevant coding, reimbursement, and coverage requirements. It is the sole responsibility of the provider to select the proper code and ensure the accuracy of all claims used in seeking reimbursement. All services must be medically appropriate and properly supported in the patient medical record.

This information is intended for use by our healthcare professionals in the United States only. Eisai Inc. recognizes the Internet is a global communications medium; however, laws, regulatory requirements and medical practices for pharmaceutical products vary from country to country. The Prescribing Information included here is not appropriate for use outside the United States. This site contains information about products that may have different product labeling in different countries.

GLIADEL® Wafer is a registered trademark of Eisai Inc.

CORP74GR1 ©2012 Eisai Inc. All rights reserved.

This site was last modified on : December 22, 2011 at 12:30pm ET