By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today
Published: May 13, 2009
BALTIMORE, May 13 -- CT colonography for colorectal cancer screening will not be covered under Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has confirmed.
The agency issued a final decision memo yesterday that reiterates the coverage denial proposed in February in draft form. (See Medicare to Deny Coverage of CT Colonography Screening)
"The evidence is inadequate to conclude that CT colonography is an appropriate colorectal cancer screening test under § 1861(pp)(1) of the Social Security Act," according to the final CMS memo.
Although the 30-day comment period following publication of the draft memo brought many requests to allow at least some coverage for the procedure, CMS stuck to its conclusion that there is not enough evidence to support the procedure in the Medicare population.
Agency analysts cited evidence from numerous studies that found CT colonography less sensitive for smaller lesions.
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