In a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the American College of Radiology (ACR) called for the same coverage criteria to be applied to virtual colonoscopy, or CT colonography, that was used to approve Medicare coverage of a stool DNA colorectal cancer screening test.

The DNA screening test was granted coverage under a new joint approval process with the FDA, and the ACR asked that such criteria be “transparent and consistently applied.”

“CT colonography is an American Cancer Society recommended screening test. The exam’s performance far exceeds the standard applied to the DNA test. Transparent evidence-based approval, and the need for more screening options for the nation’s second leading cancer killer, require that Medicare cover beneficiaries for CT colonography,” Judy Yee, MD, chair of the ACR Colon Cancer Committee, said in a statement released after the letter was sent to CMS.

Studies have shown that CT colonography is comparable to standard colonoscopy in terms of accuracy and that CT colonography is preferred by most patients. Availability of CT colonography could be a way to boost colorectal cancer screening rates.

CIGNA, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and a number of other payers currently cover screening CT colonography, though Medicare does not.

“Initiating coverage of [CT colonography] would further improve adherence rates and help to reserve the most invasive and expensive procedure – optical colonoscopy – for those patients who are most likely to require therapy,” read ACR’s letter.