 |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
January 10, 2013 AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published a new report regarding prostate radiation across time and geography in newly diagnosed older cancer patients
• IMRT has almost completely replaced 3D conformal radiotherapy (CRT) as the form of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) used in prostate cancer treatment.
• Use of IMRT alone or in combination with other therapies continues to increase. • Higher Medicare reimbursement has provided incentives for IMRT use. • Use of brachytherapy decreased overall, despite a small increase in the proportion of radiation users using HDR brachytherapy. • The use of brachytherapy decreased, both in men receiving CRT + brachytherapy and brachytherapy alone. The only brachytherapy use that increased was IMRT + brachytherapy. • Brachytherapy alone made up 20.8% of radiation use. Rates were higher in young men (66-69 and 70-74 years), non-Hispanic white men and men living in the Midwest. Rates were much lower among men older than 85 years, Hispanic men and men receiving State assistance. • The shift toward IMRT has not occurred as rapidly in some groups. Older patients, blacks, American Indians and men receiving State assistance continue to receive CRT more frequently than their peers. • Monitoring IMRT use should be a priority for these other cancers as well as for groups of prostate cancer patients and patients in areas of the country that have been slower to adopt this new technology.  Acces the AHRQ report | Back to TopCONGRESS Radiation Stakeholders Surprised at Fiscal Cliff Deal Cutting ‘Gamma Knife SRS’ Payments Key radiation stakeholders were caught off-guard by an unexpected pay cut to a high-cost Cobalt-60 stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) -- known as Gamma Knife - that sources say was quietly tucked into the fiscal cliff deal at the last minute as a way to offset the one-year “physician payment fix” and are urging lawmakers to get CMS to re-examine the payment rates through the regulatory process. See Full Article | Back to Top
Health Care in Cross-hairs as Fiscal Talks Resume The New Year’s Eve clash over "Physician payment fix" offsets will most certainly be dwarked by a major battle expected in the weeks ahead as lawmakers again target health care cuts and dive into entitlement reform in their bid to avert the delayed, but still-looming budget sequester and to raise the debt limit. See Full Article | Back to TopMEDICARE CMS Announces Candidates for New National Coverage Determinations The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a list of candidates for new national coverage determinations (NCDs) that includes PSA screening, proton beam therapy, surgery for low-risk prostate cancers and PET for Alzheimer’s disease. See Full Article | Back to TopProposed CMS Decision Memo for PET In a major win for the imaging industry, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stepped back from its broad policy of not covering new positron emission tomography (PET) by proposing to let local Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) decide whether to cover PET that uses radiopharmaceuticals for cancer imaging. See Full Article | Back to TopPresident Obama Signs the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 On January 2, 2013, President Obama signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. This new law prevents a scheduled payment cut for physicians and other practitioners who treat Medicare patients from taking effect on January 1, 2013. This provision guarantees seniors have continued access to their doctors by fixing the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) through the end of 2013. President Obama remains committed to a permanent solution to eliminating the SGR reductions that result from the existing statutory methodology. The Administration will continue to work with Congress to achieve this goal. The new law provides for a zero percent update for claims with dates of service on or after January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is currently revising the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to reflect the new law’s requirements as well as technical corrections identified since publication of the final rule in November. CMS reports that the 2013 conversion factor is $34.0230. Back to Top |
|||||
|
||||||
