NCCS joined colleagues in the Cancer Leadership Council in commending the work of the Senate Finance Committee on the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014.  The legislation offers a responsible process for moving the Medicare program away from a system that emphasizes volume of services to ...

NCCS joined with 20 patient advocacy groups and professional societies to urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to correct a long-standing inequity in Medicare coverage by requiring Medicare Advantage plans to provide coverage for clinical trials. Currently, individuals with Medicare Advantage plans must revert to standard fee-for-service ...

NCCS joined its colleagues in the Cancer Leadership Council in urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider the new policy on classes of clinical concern that has been proposed for Medicare Part D beginning in contract year 2015. CMS has proposed removing three classes of drugs ...

This week the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) joined colleagues in the Cancer Leadership Council (CLC)--a coalition that represents cancer patients, health care professionals, and researchers--in submitting comments on several standards for certification of qualified health plans as outlined in the 2015 Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Marketplace ...

As Congress deliberates significant reforms of Medicare payments for physicians, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the final fee schedule for calendar year 2014. In the final schedule, CMS abandoned a payment revision that would have significantly reduced rates of pay for certain cancer diagnostic tests ...

Proposed Reforms Could Improve Quality of Care NCCS advocates for recommendations that could benefit cancer patients and the Medicare program As advocates for quality cancer care, we at NCCS have urged changes to the Medicare payment system to improve the care of Medicare beneficiaries with cancer. A bipartisan proposal developed ...

NCCS submitted comments to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee on a draft proposal to repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and reform Medicare physician payment system. NCCS commended the committees on developing a bipartisan, bicameral  approach that would reward quality of care instead ...

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship joined colleagues in the cancer advocacy community in offering advice to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the standards for sharing patient-specific clinical trials data with researchers.  FDA has proposed that such data be made available to researchers, in hopes that such uses ...

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) joined more than 20 patient and professional organizations in the Cancer Leadership Council in sending a letter to Congressional leadership urging the end of the government shutdown. The letter describes the effects of the shutdown on cancer research and cancer patients. “Even the ...

NCCS submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed rule that addresses Medicare Part B payment policies for 2014. In its comments, NCCS commended CMS for its efforts to foster care management, including codes for transitional care management which were implemented in 2013. In ...