CMS says transplant patients can continue to access blood tests

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that patients with transplanted hearts, lungs, or kidneys who meet Medicare’s local coverage criteria can continue to access blood tests used to monitor for organ transplantation when ordered by their doctors. In March 2023, the CMS, through its local contractors issued revised billing instructions for these tests in response to improper billing and overutilization. Today, the Medicare administrative contractors “updated these instructions to clarify that these tests remain available to patients when medically necessary and ordered by a physician,” the agency said in a statement. Analysts at Craig Hallum said the news could be viewed as positive for CareDx (CDNA) and Natera (NTRA).