SCAI to CMS: Retire Old National Coverage Decision | SCAI

On August 11, 2021, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed memo decision to remove a National Coverage Determination (NCD) for Transvenous (catheter) Pulmonary Embolectomy (240.6). SCAI has been seeking removal of this NCD since 2019 along with two other societies. The request to remove this NCD was recognized by CMS in April 2021 when they initiated a national coverage analysis and received 28 comments by the end of the comment period in May 2021. Once again SCAI is submitting a comment letter recommending an expedited removal of this outdated NCD which states that transvenous (catheter) pulmonary embolectomy is experimental. This obsolete NCD prohibits physicians from treating patients with the latest technology that now meets a better standard of care for their patients.