Sight Sciences Announces CMS Establishment of a Practice Expense Supply Code for TearCare SmartLids
The $1,000 supply valuation does not establish a national Medicare payment rate or separate reimbursement for SmartLids.
Sentiment and the balance of points
Rhea-AI Sentiment reads the wording of the document, how positive or negative its language is on a 1 to 5 scale. The balance of points shown with the takes weighs what the document actually discloses, so the two can disagree, for example when a trial that missed its main goal is described in upbeat language.
Rhea-AI Summary
Sight Sciences (SGHT) announced that CMS established a direct practice expense supply code for the single-use TearCare SmartLids component.
Supply code SD397 carries an assigned price of $1,000, effective January 1, 2027, under the CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule. The company believes the valuation can support more transparent and consistent reimbursement for TearCare procedures over time.
The related procedure code, CPT 0563T, remains carrier-priced. The new supply code does not establish a national Medicare payment rate or separate reimbursement for SmartLids; payment remains subject to applicable payer coverage and reimbursement policies.
How this balance works
Rhea-AI gives every point it takes from this document a weight. Minor counts 1, Moderate 3 and Major 9, so one Major point outweighs several Minor ones. The bar adds up the weights on each side, and when neither side holds more than 65% of the total the balance reads Mixed.
It reads the document as published, with the same rules for every company, and it does not look at what the market expected or at how the stock traded, so a point can be objectively good on a day the stock falls.
Rhea-AI Sentiment measures something else, the tone of the wording.
Positive
- Moderate pointCMS supply code SD397 establishes a $1,000 SmartLids supply valuation effective January 1, 2027.
Negative
- Moderate pointCPT 0563T remains carrier-priced; the new code establishes neither national Medicare payment nor separate SmartLids reimbursement.
- Minor pointPayment determinations remain subject to applicable payer coverage and reimbursement policies.
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
New direct practice expense supply code supports more consistent valuation of CPT 0563T
MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sight Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGHT) (Sight Sciences, or the Company), an eyecare technology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative, interventional technologies intended to transform care and improve patients’ lives, announced today that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has established a new direct practice expense supply code for the single-use TearCare SmartLids® component of the TearCare® System (TearCare).
CMS maintains a database of direct practice expense items and values to provide validated information about the resources and costs required to perform procedures reported with CPT® codes. As part of its annual update to this database in the CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule, CMS established supply code SD397 for the TearCare SmartLids component, with an assigned price of
“Establishing a validated, nationally recognized supply valuation for TearCare provides greater transparency into an important direct practice expense associated with the procedure,” said Paul Badawi, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sight Sciences. “We appreciate CMS’ decision which we believe can support more transparent and consistent reimbursement for TearCare procedures over time.”
TearCare SmartLids adhere to the tarsal plates of the upper and lower eyelids of each eye and deliver a clinically-proven, highly precise, and software-controlled therapeutic temperature to melt meibomian gland obstructions that cause meibomian gland dysfunction while allowing patients to blink during treatment. TearCare SmartLids are used to perform the thermal adaptive gland procedure reported with CPT code 0563T for bilateral evacuation of meibomian glands using heat delivered through wearable, open-eye eyelid treatment devices followed by manual gland expression.
CPT 0563T remains carrier-priced, and the new supply code does not establish a national Medicare payment rate or separate reimbursement for SmartLids. Payment determinations remain subject to applicable payer coverage and reimbursement policies.
The Sight Sciences Market Access team is available to assist with coverage, coding and payment questions. Please contact IDEMarketAccess@sightsciences.com for further assistance.
About Sight Sciences
Sight Sciences is an eyecare technology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative and interventional solutions intended to transform care and improve patients’ lives. Using minimally invasive or non-invasive approaches to target the underlying causes of the world’s most prevalent eye diseases, Sight Sciences seeks to create more effective treatment paradigms that enhance patient care and supplant conventional outdated approaches. The Company’s OMNI® Surgical System is an implant-free, minimally invasive glaucoma surgery technology indicated in the United States to reduce intraocular pressure in adult patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. The OMNI Surgical System is CE Marked for the catheterization and transluminal viscodilation of Schlemm’s canal and cutting of the trabecular meshwork to reduce intraocular pressure in adult patients with open-angle glaucoma. Glaucoma is the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness. The SION® Surgical System is a bladeless, manually operated device used in ophthalmic surgical procedures to excise trabecular meshwork. The Company’s TearCare® System is 510(k) cleared in the United States for thermal-activated gland expression therapy that improves meibomian gland function in adult patients with evaporative dry eye disease due to meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), when used in conjunction with manual expression of the meibomian glands, enabling clearance of gland obstructions by physicians to address the leading cause of dry eye disease.
Visit www.sightsciences.com for more information.
Sight Sciences and TearCare are trademarks of Sight Sciences registered in the United States. OMNI, SION, and the Sight Sciences logo are trademarks of Sight Sciences registered in the United States, European Union and other territories.
CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.
© 2026 Sight Sciences. All rights reserved.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release, together with other statements and information publicly disseminated by the Company, contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and includes this statement for purposes of complying with these safe harbor provisions. Any statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements and should be evaluated as such. These statements often include words such as "anticipate," “expect,” “suggests,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projects,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “will,” “forecast” and other similar expressions. We base these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, plans and assumptions that we have made in light of our experience in the industry, as well as our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances at such time. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time they are made, you should be aware that many factors could affect our business, results of operations and financial condition and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or results. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following: the implementation and use of the new SmartLids supply code SD397 and its CMS-established input price of
Media contact:
pr@SightSciences.com
Investor contact:
Philip Taylor
Gilmartin Group
415.937.5406
Investor.Relations@Sightsciences.com
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