Medicare Expands Coverage Of PET Imaging In Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

The Medicare program is expanding its coverage of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease to remove a previous restriction that limited coverage to a single imaging event. Going forward, Medicare coverage determinations for PET beta amyloid imaging will be made by the regional Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is removing its previous National Coverage Decision (NCD) and is ending its Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) for PET beta amyloid imaging, which was implemented in 2013. The purpose of CED is to generate data on the utilization and impact . . .