Reimbursement News
CMS Re-issues Billing Instructions for April FDG-PET NCD Changes
As a reminder, Transmittal 1772, Change Request 6464, dated July 17, 2009, was rescinded and is replaced by Change Request 6632, dated September 18, 2009
On September 18, 2009, CMS released to the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) the long awaited and reissued Guidance and Billing Instructions for the April 2009 changes to the National Coverage Determination (NCD) on Positron Emission Tomography (FDG). On or after the implementation date of October 19, 2009, providers submitting claims with a date of service (DOS) on or after April 6, 2009 for CPT codes 78608, 78811-78816 for oncologic procedures are now required to identify the procedure as either for initial treatment strategy or subsequent treatment strategy by appending the modifiers PI or PS, respectively.
Read more billing instructions on the SNM web page
View Transmittal 106 Change Request 6632
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Molecular Imaging Biomarkers
Initial Data Promising for PET Imaging Biomarker
Results of initial research on Siemens Healthcare's PET imaging biomarker showed the agent can be safely biodistributed in humans and that it is stable for imaging 133 minutes after injection. The agent is designed to image and measure the cellular expression of carbonic anhydrase IX, which has been associated with hypoxia and tumor growth and spread, the company said.
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Lantheus Begins Trials of F-18 Cardiac Agent
Lantheus Medical Imaging announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical study to assess the safety, dosimetry and tolerability of LMI1195, an F-18 small molecule tracer for PET imaging of cardiac neuronal function.
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Business News
Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Funds Abiant, Inc. to Develop a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging Diagnostic for Alzheimer's Disease
The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) has announced that it is providing a grant of $200,000 to Abiant, Inc. (Deerfield, IL), for the development of a highly accurate imaging diagnostic for Alzheimer's Disease. Abiant, a privately held company, is dedicated to the application of neuroimaging to improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders.
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SNM: 75% of Nuclear Medicine Physicians Delay Tests Due to Mo-99 Shortage
SNM recently conducted a survey of nuclear pharmacies—pharmacies that supply the critical radioisotope Technetium-99m, which is used in more than 16 million nuclear medicine tests each year in the United States—to assess, anecdotally, the impact of the worldwide medical isotope shortage. According to the survey, 60 percent of radiopharmacies have been impacted by the most recent shortage. Technetium-99m is a product of Molybdenum-99, which has been in short supply recently.
Nuclear physicians and pharmacists are making changes to cope with the shortage, while striving to provide patients with the highest levels of care possible. For example, 75 percent of physicians are rescheduling patient tests by at least one day. In more than one out of three of these cases, tests have been delayed for longer than one month.
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Clinical Practice
JTO: PET/CT Can Be Used to Fast Track Lung Cancer Diagnosis
PET/CT can be used to diagnose lung cancer in a “fast-track” setting, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.
Tjeerd S. Aukema, MD, from the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, and colleagues performed a prospective study on 114 patients with pulmonary symptoms or abnormal chest x-ray who were referred for fast-track assessment at the Netherlands Cancer Institute between March 2005 and September 2007.
According to the authors, evaluation of each patient was done in a multi-disciplinary setting, which included F18-FDG PET, diagnostic CT and bronchoscopy (including biopsy), with histopathological evaluation as the reference standard. The fast-track model tested patients over the course of one day.
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What's New
Enhancements to PETNET Direct Dose Ordering
PETNET Solutions is pleased to announce the addition of several new features and enhancements to PETNET Direct. Many of these are a direct result of suggestions you, our customers, submitted in Ideas! and are now available.
[FULL STORY]
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Register Now!
Taking It to the Streets Seminar Scheduled in November
Register now to join PETNET Solutions for Taking It to the Streets®, a unique training seminar customized for the PET provider’s marketing personnel. In just four days, this program will enable your personnel to more fully grasp the needs of their oncologists and referring physicians while strengthening their ability to educate referrers about the benefits of PET imaging.
Taking It to the Streets emphasizes appropriate PET and PET•CT utilization and teaches how to deliver a message to your clients that will increase awareness, influence adoption, and support increased utilization. While the content of this seminar is designed specifically around PET and PET•CT imaging, it applies just as effectively to other specialty modalities.
Taking It to the Streets will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 2 through November 5, 2009. For more information, please contact PETNET Solutions at 1-877-4 PETNET (1-877-473-8638) or mi-lifenet@petnetsolutions.com.
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