Medicare officials have halted a proposal to penalize physicians for ordering "non-recommended" prostate-specific antigen tests to screen for prostate cancer, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
CMS made the decision following an array of negative comments about the proposal.
Urologists and other medical professionals claimed that whether men should be screened for prostate cancer remained too controversial to link to a Medicare reimbursement penalty, according to the report.
The basis for the proposal came from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's 2012 recommendation against PSA screening for men, no matter their age, according to the report.
PSA levels are often elevated for reasons other than cancer, and the prostate cancers found by screening are often growing slow enough that they are effectively harmless, but many men still undergo surgery or radiation that can have side effects that last a lifetime, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, many medical organizations still urge men to discuss PSA testing with their physician to determine whether it is right for them.
According to the report, the CMS proposal would have penalized physicians for ordering only "non-recommended" PSA screenings. Certain categories of patients would be excluded, including those with a history of prostate cancer, an enlarged prostate or prior elevated PSA levels, the report notes.
However, J. Stuart Wolf, MD, chairman of the science and quality council of the American Urological Association, told the Wall Street Journal all uses of PSA tests to screen for prostate cancer in men who don't exhibit symptoms were "not recommended" under U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines. According to Dr. Wolf, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is reevaluating its recommendation on PSA testing this year.
A CMS official told the Wall Street Journal federal officials plan to solicit further input from stakeholders, including specialty societies, "to determine if a different or re-specified appropriate-use measure for PSA screening should be considered.
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