Medicare to remove limits on PET scans used with new Alzheimer’s drugs

computer screen with brain scans

by Nathaniel Weixel for The Hill

Medicare will remove limits on covering PET scans used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, allowing broader access to new treatments on the U.S. market.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a memo it was removing a previous once-in-a-lifetime limit. But instead of making a broad decision about how many scans Medicare will cover, CMS said it was leaving coverage up to its regional contractors.

The non-invasive PET scans detect the presence of a brain plaque called amyloid and can be used as a way to determine whether a patient will be a good candidate for potentially promising drugs like Leqembi, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July.

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