House members push for CT Colonography NCD
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Six House members, led by Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., want CMS to approve a national coverage determination for computed tomography colonography as a screening test for colorectal cancer - a proposal that the agency will be taking up at a Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee meeting on Nov. 19 ("1The Gray Sheet" Nov. 3, 2008, p. 10). Cubin, along with Reps. Ed Towns, D-N.Y., Chip Pickering, R-Miss., Charlie Wilson, D-Ohio, John Sullivan, R-Okla., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told CMS in an Oct. 24 letter that allowing CTC, also known as "virtual colonoscopy," to be covered under an NCD would provide a cheaper alternative to traditional optical colonoscopies for patients and would result in more patients getting screened for cancer