Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Very Brief Blog: Open Meetings for Notorious Novitas/FCSO Oncology Biomarker LCDs

 In June, Novitas and FCSO posted identical twin, final "Oncology Biomarker" LCDs that were extremely long and tortuous, and including voluminous material never given to public comment in the draft.  (The finals were hugely longer than the drafts).

In early July, the LCDs were withdrawn or postponed, and new versions of each were released around July 27.  The "new versions" are the same as the "final" versions of June, but this time in their full form, they will be exposed to public comment.   In some places they make sense, of course, but in many places they are bizarrely written and unreadable or uninterpretatible.  They come with massive, 80-part confusing billing articles as well.

I squeaked into the Novitas August 11 registration this morning - the FCSO registration for August 10 reported "closed."

There will be public meetings.  For Novitas, a public meeting August 11, 2023, at 10 ET.  It's listed as open for four hours (for me, from 7 pacific to 11 pacific).  

https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/view/lcd.aspx?lcdid=39667&ver=9&stateRegion=all&contractorNumber=all&proposedStatus=C&sortBy=commentStart&bc=11

For FCSO, a public meeting August 10, 2023, at 10 ET. [likely closed]

https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/view/lcd.aspx?lcdid=39668&ver=8&stateRegion=all&contractorNumber=all&proposedStatus=C&sortBy=commentStart&bc=11