The SNM, American College of Radiology, Academy of Molecular Imaging, American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the National Oncologic PET Registry submitted comments last week to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding the NCA for FDG-PET for Solid Tumors.
The letter was written in response to CMS’ request for additional comments regarding whether its current framework of cancer-by-cancer coverage for oncologic FDG-PET imaging could be replace by an omnibus framework.
“We believe that there is strong empirical evidence to support an omnibus cancer framework that would provide for coverage of PET across all oncologic indications for diagnosis, staging, and restaging (including detection of suspected recurrence),” the letter states.
Additionally, the group believes it is both clinically appropriate and practical for CMS to adopt a comprehensive cancer coverage framework for PET.
However, the group notes that there is no “sufficiently mature” NOPR evidence to recommend that CMS stop the CED requirements for PET coverage for treatment monitoring. The societies say they will continue to use the NOPR to collect data to examine the value of PET for this purpose.
