The American College of Radiology (ACR) and the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) are pleased to announce that the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR), which will significantly expand Medicare coverage of positron emission tomography (PET) scans, will officially launch Monday, May 8, 2006.

Managed by the ACR and ACRIN, and sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), the NOPR is now formally approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the ACR Institutional Review Board (IRB). Previously, Medicare only reimbursed for PET scans for several common cancers, but the opening of the NOPR means that participating Medicare beneficiaries will now have PET scans covered for essentially all types of cancers including, but not limited to, brain, cervical, small cell lung, pancreatic, testicular, and ovarian cancers.

"Years after diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer, I was told I had a recurrence which was not responding to chemotherapy and to 'get my affairs in order,' as there was little more they could do for me. I sought a second opinion and was encouraged to have a PET scan that I paid for myself. The test revealed that I indeed did not have recurrent cancer. The going price of peace of mind: the cost of a PET scan," said Laurel Pracht, Phoenix, Ariz., ovarian cancer survivor and NOPR participant. "As a patient who continues to rely on information provided by PET, I'm convinced that the NOPR project will benefit thousands of Medicare patients nationwide who may have little time or money to spare."
More than 600 PET facilities nationwide have already registered to take part in the NOPR and can now be reimbursed by CMS and CMS contracted Medicare Advantage plans for PET indications currently not covered for payment. The ACR and ACRIN have been working to develop the NOPR in collaboration with AMI since CMS announced its intent to support a PET registry in January 2005.

The NOPR will collect data nationwide to allow for better assessment of the impact of PET in the management of patients with various forms of cancer or suspected cancer. The American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society for Nuclear Medicine also have played key roles in guiding the project's development.

Obtaining coverage for PET under the NOPR requires that the patient's referring physician complete a short questionnaire before and another after the PET scan, which the PET facility will submit electronically to the NOPR database. This information is sent to CMS as a condition for payment. Additionally, if the patient and the referring physician indicate their willingness to participate in the research component of the NOPR, the data will be used by the NOPR investigators to assess the effect of PET on referring physicians' plans of intended patient management across a wide spectrum of cancer indications for PET. The NOPR investigators, with data analysis support from the ACRIN Biostatistics Center at Brown University, will report their findings to CMS.

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