You will soon find getting paid by Medicare for positron emission tomography (PET) scans easier (see PBN 1/26/09). CMS issued a final national coverage determination (NCD) to expand coverage for PET scans to initial testing for Medicare patients diagnosed with most solid tumor cancers.
The NCD removes a clinical study requirement for PET scan use in these patients, CMS says.
"Since 2005, Medicare coverage of PET scans for diagnosing some forms of cancer and guiding treatment has been tied to a requirement that providers collect clinical information about how the scans have affected doctors' treatment decisions," the agency wrote in a statement. "This information was gathered through the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) observational study. This decision removes the requirement to report data to the NOPR when the PET scan is used to support initial treatment (or diagnosis and ‘staging') of most solid tumor cancers."
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