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To Screen Smokers for Lung Cancer or Not: Doctors Unsure
While Medicare is ready to pay for an annual spiral CT scan for long-term smokers, some doctors think it's an unnecessary procedure that might do more harm than good.
In February, Medicare announced that it would pay for an annual lung cancer screening test for certain long-term smokers. Medicare recipients between the ages of 55 and 77 years who have smoked the equivalent of a pack a day for 30 years are now eligible for the annual test, known as a spiral CT scan.
Medicare's decision was partly a response to a 2011 study showing that screenings with the technique could reduce lung cancer deaths by 20%. Some images of lung cancer are clear cut. But in many others, a nodule on the screen turns out not to be cancer at all.
That translates into thousands of lives each year, says Dr Claudia Henschke, a radiologist who heads the lung and cancer screening program at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center. "It's a tremendous step forward," she says, primarily because lung cancer is such a big killer. The disease claims more than 150,000 lives in the U.S. each year, more than the next three cancers — breast, prostate and colon cancers — combined.
Read the complete article on NPR:
Varied Access: The Pharmacogenetic Testing Coverage Divide
February 18th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of a study published in the February 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® to uncover significant differences in coverage decisions for pharmacogenetic tests across major US health insurers.
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Neurologists Share Tips for Securing Patient Access to Gene Therapies
March 19th 2025Tenacious efforts at every level, from the individual clinician to the hospital to the state to Congress, will be needed to make sure patients can access life-saving gene therapies for neuromuscular diseases.
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Texas Oncology to Roll Out Canopy for ePROs After Head-to-Head Pilot
March 18th 2025Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president of Public Policy and Strategy for Texas Oncology, said the practice received positive feedback from nurses and patients during a pilot that concluded in February.
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Cancer Labels on Alcohol? Ireland, Where Pubs Still Rule, Will Have Them by Next Year
March 17th 2025As St. Patrick's Day brings global celebrations involving alcohol, Ireland looks forward to rethinking excess consumption with a new tool set to arrive next year: the world's most comprehensive alcohol warning label.
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