The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) is asking the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to make reimbursement for oncology PET studies easier by ending its requirement that payments be made under its coverage with evidence development (CED) statute.
In its request to CMS, NOPR asserts that seven years of evidence the group has compiled confirms PET's efficacy in oncology and has shown that PET is "both reasonable and necessary for subsequent treatment strategy of oncologic indications."
CMS abolished CED requirements in 2009 for PET scans to develop an initial treatment strategy for most oncologic indications, but the agency has continued to require CED for subsequent treatment strategy evaluations for many cancer types.
"In light of the robust NOPR data collected since 2009, we are now convinced that there remains no clinical need to continue CED data collection for FDG-PET oncologic indications," the communiqué stated. The letter is signed by NOPR chair Dr. Bruce Hillner and co-chairs Drs. Barry Siegel and Anthony Shields.
CMS will take public comment and scientific evidence that addresses the issue until October 12.
