Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Medicare will now cover lung cancer screening by computed tomography (CT.)
This announcement is being hailed as a remarkable victory for patients. The Florida Lung, Asthma and Sleep Specialists join in the public applause for this decision.
Big News For Older Lungs: Medicare Covers Lung Cancer Scans!
Laurie Fenton Ambrose, president and chief executive officer of the Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), stated, “Medicare got this right. Screening coverage will help save thousands of seniors each year from the nation’s leading cancer killer.”
She added comments about extra research benefits of the scan, to the obvious life-saving acclamations. “Screening programs can also help lower smoking rates. The process may even lead to better understanding of addiction as well as lung cancer in those who have never smoked.”
Experts stated, “Medicare’s final decision to cover computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening gives seniors at high-risk for the disease access to care that can save more lives than any cancer screening test in history.”
As we have reported in this blog previously, CT lung cancer screening is a cost-effective test that has proven to reduce lung cancer deaths
A Look At Lung Cancer Statistics
1. Over 220,000 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year.
2. Likewise 160,000 people will die from the disease.
3. This total adds up to more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined.
Douglas E. Wood, M.D., past president of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, said “This is a great day for those at high-risk for lung cancer and their families. Now, we can save tens of thousands of people each year from this terrible disease that now kills more women in wealthy countries than breast cancer.”
Read more about the test that could save the life of you or someone you love, in one of our previous blogs.
This is a historic and momentous government decision because this is the very first time a government health insurance program for the elderly will finance such a measure of early detection.
FLASS doctors and staff agree that CT lung cancer screening is a proven test. Now that Medicare will cover it, we expect great victories in the war on lung cancer from The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
A Look At Medicare Coverage Rules
1. Experts reported, “The decision applies to Medicare beneficiaries aged 55-77 who are current smokers or who quit within the last 15 years, and who racked up at least 30 “pack years. The latter is possible if they smoked one pack a day for 30 years, for instance, two packs a day for 15 or three packs a day for a decade.”
2. The coverage is in effect right now.
3. The sweeping coverage is national, for all Americans.
CMS chief medical officer Dr. Patrick Conway called the decision to pay for a once-a-year screening “an important new Medicare preventive benefit since lung cancer is the third most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.”
4. Paperwork To Save Lives: CMS will require health care providers, like FLASS, to submit clinical and follow-up data to an approved registry. Likewise, The American College of Radiology (ACR) Lung Cancer Screening Registry has applied for CMS approval to help doctors efficiently meet those registry reporting requirements with qualified, trained x-ray technologists.
5. The program endorses a smoking cessation requirement. “The Lung Association also applauds Medicare for requiring providers to include smoking cessation counseling or counseling about the importance of quitting tobacco for life as one of the elements leading up to the annual scan.”
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