CMS Announces Potential National Coverage Decision Topics

On July 30th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a list of potential NCD topics. Key areas include: Gene Expression Profiling Tests to inform cancer therapy, Proton Beam Therapy decisions, Artificial Cervical Discs, Minimally-Invasive Methods of Bariatric Surgery, Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) used off-label for cervical spine fusion, Hip Resurfacing, Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation, Off-Label Use of Drug-Eluting Coronary Stents, Vertebroplasty & Kyphoplasty, Lumbar Fusion, Peripheral Arterial Stenting and Vascular Intervention, Pharmacogenomic Tests used to detect DNA variants to guide the use of therapeutic drugs (i.e., “companion diagnostics”).

The public comment period closes on September 28, 2008.

More information can be found at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/ncpc_view_document.asp?id=19

If you have any questions, please contact Teresa Lee at TLee@AdvaMed.org.