Efforts to secure U.S. Medicare reimbursement for virtual colonoscopy may have been dealt a setback this week after members of a government panel expressed skepticism about the technology.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday convened the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC) to assess whether VC (also known as CTC, or CT colonography) is worthy of coverage in the Medicare program. Achieving Medicare reimbursement would be a huge milestone that would spur widespread clinical use of virtual colonoscopy.
There were some positive aspects of the meeting. But several MedCAC panelists expressed misgivings about virtual colonoscopy, both from a clinical and economic standpoint. Find out what happened by clicking here, or visit our Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community to learn more.
DEXA payment cuts
In other news, a story in our Musculoskeletal Imaging Digital Community describes how the increasing availability of bisphosphonate bone-strengthening drugs and federally mandated osteoporosis screening led to a decline in hip fractures in older patients in the U.S. since the 1990s. That's the good news.
The bad news is that steadily dropping reimbursement for dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) exams could reverse the trend, leading to increased incidence of hip fractures in senior citizens. Get the story by clicking here.
Pediatric CT overdose?
Finally, we bring you the tragic story of a California boy who may have received an overdose of radiation following a CT scan at a rural hospital. The boy's parents charge that the boy underwent 151 CT scans in an hour, after which he developed radiation burns on his face. Read about that story by clicking here, or visit our Pediatric Imaging Digital Community.
