Atlantic Medical Imaging is a registered site for the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR).  If you have a patient you would like to refer through the NOPR or if you have any questions, please call 609-652-3375.

NOPR Overview

The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) was developed in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal to expand coverage for positron emission tomography with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (PET) to include cancers and indications not presently eligible for Medicare reimbursement. Medicare has provided coverage for FDG-PET for certain specific indications for a number of cancers for several years, but many other cancers and some indications (e.g., treatment monitoring) remained non-covered. With the opening of the NOPR, essentially all of these other cancers and indications will now be covered for patients who have Medicare as their primary insurance. This coverage is provided by CMS under a new program known as "coverage with evidence development.�

Medicare reimbursement for these cancers can be obtained if the patient’s referring physician and the PET provider submit data to a clinical registry to assess the impact of PET on cancer patient management. The NOPR is implementing this registry for CMS.

Patient Eligibility

Medicare beneficiaries who are referred for PET for essentially all oncologic indications that are not currently reimbursable under Medicare are eligible to participate in the NOPR.

Indications

The Indications table lists the cancers and indications that will be accepted in the Registry. Cancers and indications that are reimbursable by Medicare are NOT eligible for entry in the NOPR. Cancers and indications that are specifically excluded for Medicare reimbursement are also not eligible for entry in the NOPR

Referring Physician’s Responsibilities

The patient’s referring physician must agree to complete Pre- and Post-PET data collection forms consisting of approximately 5 questions regarding the patient’s planned management.

• The Pre-PET Form must be completed by the referring physician and returned to the PET facility prior to the patient’s PET scan. A blank Pre-PET Form can be downloaded and sent to the PET facility at the time of patient referral. If the form is not submitted with the referral a patient-specific form will be e-mailed to the PET facility for delivery to the referring physician. The Pre-PET Form can be returned to the PET facility via fax, mail, or hand delivery.
• After the PET is performed a patient-specific Post-PET Form will be e-mailed to the PET facility for delivery to the referring physician for completion within 30 days. This form will also include an ACR IRB-approved Referring Physician Information Sheet. The physician will indicate on the Post-PET Form whether consent for use of the response data in future NOPR research has been given or withheld. All data will be sent to CMS, but the dataset used by NOPR investigators for research will contain only the data of patients and physicians when both have consented to have the data included. This form can also be returned to the PET facility via fax, mail, or hand delivery.

The case is eligible for CMS reimbursement only if the Pre-PET Form is completed and returned to the PET facility prior to the PET scan and the Post-PET Form is completed and returned within 30 days of the PET scan.

Pre-PET Form

The Pre-PET Form should be sent to the PET facility at the time of patient referral. If the form is not submitted with the referral a patient-specific form will be e-mailed to the PET facility for delivery to the referring physician. The Pre-PET Form can be returned to the PET facility via, fax, mail, or hand delivery.

The case is eligible for CMS reimbursement only if the Pre-PET Form is completed and returned to the PET facility prior to the PET scan.

Post-PET Forms

After the PET is performed a patient-specific Post-PET Form will be e-mailed to the PET facility for delivery to the referring physician for completion within 30 days. This form can also be returned to the PET facility via FAX, mail, or hand delivery.

• Post-PET Initial Staging
• Post-PET Restaging
• Post-PET Suspected Cancer
• Post-PET Treatment Monitoring
• Post-PET Unkown Primary

The case is eligible for CMS reimbursement only if the Post-PET Form is completed and returned within 30 days of the PET scan.

Frequently Asked Questions

For additional information about the National Oncologic PET Registry, please visit the NOPR website at http://www.cancerpetregistry.org/clinicians.htm