National Oncologic PET Registry

QC Medicare Cancer Patients to Benefit from Local
National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) Program

Radiology Group participating as PET Registry facility

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a Federal agency that manages the Medicare program, currently pays for PET scans that are ordered for only nine types of cancer and for certain specific reasons. CMS has a new policy called “coverage with evidence development” (CED) that will now pay for PET scans ordered for most other types of cancer and reasons. This means Medicare will now pay for virtually all PET or PET/CT scans in the same way it currently pays for the nine approved types of cancers and reasons.

The purpose of the CED policy is to help CMS determine if they should pay for PET scans for diagnosis, staging, and treatment monitoring for more types of cancer than what is currently covered. In order to collect the information needed to make this decision, CMS will provide payment for the PET scans of patients who are properly registered with the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR). In addition, if the patient and physician agree to participate in the research, the information will be entered into the registry and will then be analyzed to determine how PET scans effect the way doctors plan treatment for their cancer patients.

In order for Medicare to pay for a patient’s PET scans, Medicare is requiring the patient’s physician provide certain information about the reason for the scan and how the results of the scan may influence your treatment. This information will be sent by the PET Registry facility (Radiology Group Imaging Center) to Medicare for payment for the PET scan. In addition, the NOPR is requesting patients consent to having this information used for research. Specifically, the NOPR plans to study how PET scans affect the treatment plans of the doctors who order PET scans. Eventually, the results of this research may help to obtain coverage by Medicare and other insurers for a wider range of cancers.

Radiology Group Imaging Center is pleased to be a participating facility in this study and is currently the only National Oncologic PET Registry facility serving the Iowa/Illinois Quad Cities.

For more details, patients and physicians may call 563-359-3949 to speak with the physician liaison.

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