Following the release of a lung cancer study that found fewer than 2 percent of heavy smokers received preventive CT screenings in 2016, the American College of Radiology (ACR) is urging physicians and insurance providers to step up in the fight against America’s deadliest disease.
“CT lung cancer screening can save more lives than any cancer screening test in history, but patients are not hearing about this test from their doctors,” ACR Lung Cancer Screening Committee Chair Ella Kazerooni, MD, said in a statement. “This noncompliance and practical non-coverage is contributing to unnecessary deaths due to lack of screening.”
CT is the first—and only—cost-effective screening test that has significantly reduced lung cancer deaths, she said, and physicians’ failure to adhere to clinical guidelines means that not only are patients neglecting screenings, but so are their doctors.
Unlike breast and colon cancer screenings, patients have to be referred for a lung screening by their primary care provider. According to recent research, a hefty fraction of those providers are unaware or critically uninformed about these exams, which has led to as many as 12,000 additional deaths a year.
“Many of these people may never hear that there is a test that can help save them,” the statement read.
Kazerooni said physicians themselves aren’t entirely to blame—CMS cut funding for the exams shortly after providing coverage at all. Reimbursement for lung cancer screenings reaches just around $60, or less than half of what Medicare pays for mammograms.
The financial piece just isn’t feasible, the ACR wrote. A lack of money is part of what’s costing lives, since centers who would have otherwise been able to offer lung CTs are unable to afford the resources they need.
“Thousands of people each year should not be allowed to die needlessly while the medical community fine-tunes the only exam proven to save lives from the nation’s leading cancer killer,” Kazerooni said. “Medicare must also provide adequate reimbursement. We need to save lives now.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.