Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Medicare's Revised NCD For Next Gen Sequencing in Cancer: Highlights and Quirks

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On January 27, 2020, CMS released a revised NCD for next generation sequencing. See the full CMS analysis here . 41 pages as PDF; 33,000...
Monday, January 27, 2020

CMS Posts Revised NCD for NGS Sequencing in Advanced Cancer

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On January 20, 2020, CMS posted a revised NCD for uses of NGS testing in patients with cancer. The original NCD, in February 2018, focused...

Very Brief Blog: Chief Medical Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, Both Depart CMS

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Two departures from CMS announced in January, and one from HHS. CMS Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kate Goodrich , will leave for an executive...
Thursday, January 23, 2020

Medicare Trivia: As Noridian's Jurisdiction E Re-bids, Can It Go to a Non-MolDx MAC?

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This blog is probably near a peak level of Medicare trivia, but it's interesting from the perspective of the MolDx policy system for lab...
Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Very Brief Blog: Quest Acquires the Blueprint Genetics Laboratory

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On January 22, 2020, multiple news outlets reporting that Quest has acquired Blueprint Genetics, a Helsinki-based genetics laboratory with a...

Very Brief Blog: CMS To Cover Acupuncture as Non-Opioid Therapy for Back Pain

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Last January, CMS unveiled a plan to review acupuncture again (it is a service that has been non-covered by NCD for decades).   See original...
Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Very Brief Blog: CMS Somewhat Cleaned Up NCCI Genomic Edits for CY2020

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Just over a year ago, in November 2018, CMS released a few  sometimes-bizarre new rules for coding of panel testing and especially genetic t...
Friday, January 10, 2020

Very Brief Blog: Coalition Files Citizen Petition, Urges FDA Stop Actions Against LDT PGx Labs

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According to an article on January 10, 2019, in Genomeweb, a "Coalition to Preserve Access to Pharmacogenomics" has filed a federa...
Thursday, January 9, 2020

Very Brief Blog: CareDx/Natera Court Case Cites MolDx Article

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On January 8, 2020, Genomeweb ran an article about an ongoing legal dispute between CareDx and Natera regarding donor-DNA renal transplant t...
Tuesday, January 7, 2020

MolDx Posts Final LCDs for NGS Profiling of Solid Cancers and Myeloid Cancers

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MolDx has finalized complex and important LCDs for comprehensive genomic profiling in cancer. Each of the two LCDs also has an accompanying ...

Anthem Executive to Lead CMMI

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Anthem executive Brad Smith has been appointed to head the Center for Innovation (CMMI) at CMS, announced January 6, 2020. During the Trum...
Friday, January 3, 2020

Books and Movies List - 2019

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Off topic from my regular business blog, my fifth annual book list, 2019 version. In the cloud as a PDF here . Internet version here . ...
Thursday, January 2, 2020

CMS Updates PAMA Page for New Law: Reporting Year Is Delayed, But Year 4 at 15% Cut Is Not

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CMS has updated its PAMA REGULATIONS page to account for new law passed in late December, section 105(a)(2) of the Further Consolidated Appr...
Monday, December 30, 2019

Health Affairs: Twin Articles On Truly Reforming and Rebooting US Coverage & Reimbursement; And A Few Other Updates

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Here, I highlight very recent twin blogs in Health Affairs about reimbursement policy reform -- followed by links to a flurry of new article...
Monday, December 23, 2019

Very Brief Blog: Health Affairs Reviews, Highlights Trump Executive Order on CMS Innovation and Coverage

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Update: I missed it up front, but also on December 18, 2019, McClellan, Romine, Allen, Carino, and Gottlieb also had a separate article in ...