CMS to consider expanding coverage for oncological PET imaging

TriMed Staff | | Health Imaging | Diagnostic Imaging
 
FDG-PET image of the body. Source: fGate 
  
An advisory committee for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will meet August 20 to review the impact of FDG PET as part of a management strategy to improve patient-centered outcomes for nine cancers.

The Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC) will meet to determine whether to expand PET coverage to include brain, cervical, small cell lung, ovarian, pancreatic, testicular, prostate, bladder and kidney cancers, according to a June 27 notice of the Federal Register.

According to study data from the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR), clinicians were able to change the intended care of more than one in three cancer patients as a result of FDG-PET scan findings.

The panel will consider data generated under a current national coverage determination that provide PET coverage for specified cancers when additional data are prospectively collected. During the public meeting, MedCAC’s also will discuss the various kinds of evidence that are useful to support requests for Medicare coverage in this field, the Register stated.

TriMed Staff

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