CMS proposes Medicare cover new diagnostic test for cancer

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week released for comment a proposal that Medicare cover diagnostic laboratory tests that use Next Generation Sequencing for patients with a breast or ovarian cancer that may be inherited. The test used must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ordered by a treating physician for a patient not previously tested using NGS, and performed in a laboratory certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments program, among other requirements. Under the proposal, Medicare administrative contractors also could decide to cover the tests for patients with other cancers that may be inherited.