[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1981-E1982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             PET TECHNOLOGY

                                 ______


                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 1995

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, last month I was invited to the University 
of Tennessee Hospital where I was given a tour and briefing concerning 
a new medical technology, Positron Emission Tomography, or PET for 
short. I should say that this is the latest advance in medical 
technology for humans and does not apply to pet animals.
  PET technology is the latest advance in diagnosing diseases such as 
breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, heart disease, 
and epilepsy.
  I have introduced H.R. 2194, the Medicare PET Coverage Act of 1995, 
because it is time that the average American has access to both this 
technology and the benefits from cost savings that PET scans provide. 
My bill would expand PET from research into widespread clinical use by 
permitting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for PET scan procedures.
  Despite the fact that CHAMPUS and private insurers like Blue Cross/
Blue Shield already reimburse for this safe, cost effective procedure, 
Medicare and Medicaid do not.
  PET scan technology is a diagnostic procedure that doctors can use 
without surgery to determine the rate of growth of a tumor and tell if 
it is malignant or benign. This knowledge saves patients from 
unnecessary surgery and even eliminates the need for many biopsies.
  Over its 20-year history and some 1 million PET scans, the technique 
has demonstrated the ability to reduce the number, cost, physical pain, 
and mortality of expensive surgical procedures.
  This results not only in improved care, but also reduced health care 
delivery costs.
  For example, in the case of breast cancer, most patients undergo an 
expensive and painful surgery to evaluate the tumors. This procedure 
often requires hospitalization and anesthesia and can lead to 
complications. PET scans allow doctors to screen out the 75 percent of 
patients who can be treated by partial mastectomy and thereby avoid 
surgery. Almost 74,000 women per year would be spared the risk and the 
cost associated with this surgery.
  Similarly, lung cancer patients would avoid 10,000 surgeries and 
17,000 biopsies each year with the use of PET scans.
  With today's rising health care costs, we need to push those 
technologies which provide cost savings into the mainstream of medical 
practice.
  Data collected from peer review studies shows that PET 
technology offers the potential to reduce national health care costs by 
a net of $5 billion a year. Approximately $1 billion of these savings 
would be in Medicare alone.

  I would like to commend my colleague, Mr. Thomas of California, for 
his efforts to include PET scans in the Medicare Preservation Act we 
will vote on tomorrow. His language clarifies the scope of coverage and 
amount of payment under the Medicare program. This would ensure that 
cutting-edge and cost-saving technologies like PET are reimbursable.
  This language is an important step in enabling Americans who rely on 
Medicare to benefit from innovative new technologies while at the same 
time generating considerable savings to the Federal Government.
  As important for me as the cost savings is the fact that the largest 
manufacturer of PET scan equipment in the world, CTI, is located in my 
district in east Tennessee. The technology and personnel that founded 
the company came from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory just outside of 
Knoxville, TN.
  The savings from PET technology could start today. One million PET 
scan studies have been performed with no known negative reactions. 
Patients have avoided unnecessary surgery because of PET. Again, I say 
we are not talking about animal pets, but a medical breakthrough called 
Positron Emission Tomography.
  The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has not made a 
decision on reimbursement while the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] 
drags its feet in making a decision on whether and how to regulate 
PET--something that States have already been doing.
  For over 7 years, the developers of PET scans have complied with HCFA 
and FDA procedures and requests only to have the rules changed and 
inquiries about progress met with minimal response.
  While there has been some recent movement on the part of the FDA, the 
fact remains that we have no consistent regulatory plan that applies 
industry-wide to all uses of PET.
  Mr. Thomas' language will help move PET, and other technologies like 
it, out of this needless bureaucratic standstill.
  Under this language, HCFA can no longer prevent Americans who rely on 
Medicare from 

[[Page E 1982]]
the benefits of PET scan technology. It will no longer be able to keep 
the Federal Government from realizing the savings that PET scans can 
generate.
  A hallmark of our health care system is the ability to constantly 
improve patient treatment by introducing new technology. Better 
technology often means a more intelligent approach to the diagnosis and 
treatment of illness. This often translates into better care at a lower 
cost.
  To the person who can avoid surgery, the access to PET is an 
immediate health concern. For the taxpayer or individual insurance 
consumer, reimbursement can help relieve the burden of rising costs. 
Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement of PET technology provides access 
to a medical benefit that Americans should not be denied 1 more day.
   Mr. Speaker, PET scans can save lives, discovering things that other 
types of medical scanning miss.
  It will not be long before people will be demanding this technology. 
We should not deny its benefits to our senior citizens because of 
bureaucratic delays or unfair medical rules.

                          ____________________