DISARM Act of 2015

Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms Act of 2015 or the DISARM Act of 2015

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) recognize the costs of DISARM antimicrobial drugs under the Medicare payment system for the inpatient services of subsection (d) hospitals, (2) provide for additional payment with respect to discharges involving such drugs, (3) publish in the Federal Register a list of the DISARM antimicrobial drugs, and (4) make a proportional adjustment in standardized payment amounts to assure that the requirements of this Act do not result in aggregate payments greater or less than those that would otherwise be made for a fiscal year.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)

Defines a "DISARM antimicrobial drug" as one approved or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration on or after January 1, 2015, which, among other things, is intended to treat an infection:

• caused by, or likely to be caused by, a qualifying pathogen;
• associated with high rates of mortality or significant patient morbidity; and
• for which there is an unmet medical need.

Requires that the mechanism established by the Secretary to recognize the costs of new medical services and technologies that are not DISARM antimicrobial drugs under the Medicare payment system is applicable to new medical services or technology if the service or technology is not a DISARM antimicrobial drug.

Directs the Comptroller General to study the barriers that prevent the development of DISARM antimicrobial drugs and develop recommendations for actions to be taken in order to overcome those barriers.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov