The American College of Radiology (ACR) has raised concerns over a federal proposal for insurance coverage of amyloid PET scans for Alzheimer's disease patients.
In submitted comments to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the ACR asked the agency to reconsider leaving coverage determinations for amyloid PET scans to the discretion of local Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) and instead implement a national coverage ruling.
"If left to local determination, a final ruling for coverage of [beta-amyloid] PET could be significantly delayed and highly variable across geographic regions, further exacerbating existing inequities to access," the ACR said.
In July, CMS proposed lifting its current limit for coverage of amyloid PET to a single scan and only for patients enrolled in clinical trials.
The lack of coverage of amyloid PET scans has also been criticized previously by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) and the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA).
