Medicare Covers Yearly Lung Cancer Screening

Cases of lung cancer have doubled over the years which cause thousands of deaths per year. Currently, CT scans are the only approved method for lung cancer screening. This detects lung cancer in the early stages. The good news is Medicare may now cover the cost of a member’s annual lung cancer screening.

Criteria for Coverage

The following criteria are stipulated under the guidelines of Medicare for patients eligible for yearly lose-dose CT screening for lung cancer.

• 55-77 years old.
• Smokers, or previous smokers who quit within the past fifteen years.
• Don’t show any signs of symptoms of lung cancer.
• With a smoking history equivalent to one pack per day for thirty years.
• Healthy enough to tolerate required treatment for a lung cancer at its early stage.

Ensuring the Use of Right Screening Tools for Patients in the Future

Each lung screening center provides data on the smoking history of each patient, screening results, and CT dosage to a national registry approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Such registry ensures the centers provide high-quality results and research and development of new screening and treatment tools may be furthered.