The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today it has expanded Medicare coverage of positron emission tomography (PET) to include some Medicare beneficiaries with suspected Alzheimer's disease and to include other beneficiaries at risk for Alzheimer's disease who are enrolled in a large and easily accessible clinical trial.

Medicare beneficiaries who meet specific criteria may participate in the clinical trial and receive a PET scan while CMS continues to review evidence about the benefits of these scans in additional populations.

The National Coverage Decision expands the coverage of PET to include beneficiaries who meet the diagnostic criteria for both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and fronto-temporal dementia (FTD), who have been evaluated for specific alternate causes of dementia, and for whom the cause of the clinical symptoms remains uncertain. Medicare coverage of PET also includes other patients with suspected AD who enroll in a large, CMS-approved, practical clinical trial.

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