Medicare and NOPR

About National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR)

The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) was developed in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal to expand coverage for FDG-PET to include cancers and indications not presently eligible for Medicare reimbursement. Medicare reimbursement for these cancers will be available if the patient’s referring physician and the 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.

National Oncologic PET Registry Web Site

Learn more about the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) by visiting the recently launched Web site: www.cancerpetregistry.org. Facility registration forms and instructions, sample data collection forms, a work flow diagram, operations manual, patients information and much more is now available on-line.

The NOPR is sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI) and is managed by the American College of Radiology (ACR) through the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN).

The NOPR is endorsed by the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the Society for Nuclear Medicine (SNM).

Objectives and Goals

The objectives and goals of this data collection are as follows:

• Primary objective: To assess the effect of FDG PET on referring physicians’ plans of intended patient management across the spectrum of the expanded cancer indications for FDG-PET.
• Secondary objective: To assess the effect of FDG-PET on referring physician’ plans of intended management in relation to cancer-type, indication, performance status, physicians role in management, and type of PET.
• First goal: To acquire data that can be used to evaluate PET and PET/CT in a manner that does not interfere with the clinical care of the patient.
• Second goal: To minimize hassle to patients, PET centers and referring clinicians while acquiring the data.

Who owns the NOPR Data?

The Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), as an agent of CMS, will maintain ownership of the data collected by the American College of Radiology (ACR) for the NOPR. The data will reside in an electronic database at ACR.

Who has access to NOPR data?

The members of the NOPR Working Group, NOPR project staff at ACR and the Center for Statistical Sciences at Brown University, and staff of CMS.