- Home
- » e-Newsletters
New cancer treatment coverage plan unveiled by Medicare
Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, November 9, 2004
The October 19 issue of Ambulatory Surgery Regulatory Update contained a story about the proposed Medicare cuts to the physician fee schedule that would affect oncologists. Last week, however, CMS announced some changes for 2005 likely to offer at least some consolation to those physicians and their patients undergoing cancer treatment.
According to a story on the online news service BestWire, CMS issued a November 1 announcement that indicated they would, in 2005, expand their coverage of clinical trials for new cancer drugs, offer financial incentive for physicians to monitor their patients' reaction to these new drugs, and pay for positron emission tomography (PET scans) for cervical cancer.
The new clinical trial coverage will apply to participants in a series of nine upcoming studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. The studies will involve a number of colorectal drugs, including oxaliplatin, irinotecan, bevacizumab and cetusimab, and will explore the "off-label" use of these drugs in treating other forms of cancer.
The financial incentive program will offer doctors $130 per patient per visit, and will see doctors measuring symptoms of pain, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue suffered by patients in response to different drug treatments. The purpose of the study, according to Medicare, is to "assess a cancer patient's status in these important dimensions of quality of life."
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Billing telemetry daily monitoring
- Credentialing monthly: What is the role of the credentials committee in addressing unprofessional conduct?
- 2010 ICD-9 code updates now available online
- Master modifiers to ensure accurate reimbursement
- H1N1 hits Maine facility
- Radiologist indicted for fraudulently signing reports
- Don’t be scared into silence: Affiliation letter safeguards allow you to disclose more
- National Quality Forum creates standardized set of data for electronic health records
- New report reveals $47 billion in Medicare fraud
- Understand the H1N1 Flu and how to code it
- E-mailed
-
- Credentialing monthly: What is the role of the credentials committee in addressing unprofessional conduct?
- Q/A: Billing telemetry daily monitoring
- New report reveals $47 billion in Medicare fraud
- Radiologist indicted for fraudulently signing reports
- Revised MS.1.20 'huge improvement', out for comment again
- H1N1 hits Maine facility
- Briefings on Outpatient Rehab Reimbursement and Regulations, December 2009
- Hand hygiene rates improved through variety of reinforcement styles
- Press Ganey report: Patient satisfaction increasing across the country
- Residency Program Alert, December 2009
- Searched