As usual, I am off topic. But this seemed important.
CMS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (I had been wondering what CMS stood for), has announced they will begin covering lung cancer screening. This is in spite of the negative recommendation by the panel that reviews such matters.
Screening will be with a low dose cat scan which is excellent since cat scans can be heavy on the radiation. Screening will be available for patients between 55 and 77 years of age. Patients will be eligible for a scan once a year, much in the same way mammograms are covered. Persons who are current smokers, those who have quit in the past fifteen years or those who smoked a pack a day for thirty years will be covered. A prescription from your doctor will be required.
Lung cancer is the third most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. It has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women in the western world. Proponents say screening could prevent up to 20 percent of deaths from lung cancer, comparable to mammogram and colonoscopy screening.
Supposedly this is an expensive test, running in the $300 range. But it seems that for everything else medicare approves a much lesser amount so it will be interesting to see what the fee actually turns out to be.
CMS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (I had been wondering what CMS stood for), has announced they will begin covering lung cancer screening. This is in spite of the negative recommendation by the panel that reviews such matters.
Screening will be with a low dose cat scan which is excellent since cat scans can be heavy on the radiation. Screening will be available for patients between 55 and 77 years of age. Patients will be eligible for a scan once a year, much in the same way mammograms are covered. Persons who are current smokers, those who have quit in the past fifteen years or those who smoked a pack a day for thirty years will be covered. A prescription from your doctor will be required.
Lung cancer is the third most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. It has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women in the western world. Proponents say screening could prevent up to 20 percent of deaths from lung cancer, comparable to mammogram and colonoscopy screening.
Supposedly this is an expensive test, running in the $300 range. But it seems that for everything else medicare approves a much lesser amount so it will be interesting to see what the fee actually turns out to be.
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