Over the past 25 years, the Congress has expanded the Medicare benefit to include various preventive services to the Medicare Part B program such as Pap smear and screening pelvic exams, screening mammograms, colorectal cancer screening tests, and diabetes screening tests. Effective January 1, 2009, CMS is allowed to add coverage of "additional preventive services" if certain statutory requirements are met, as provided under section 101(a) of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) (Pub. L. 110-275). Among other things, this new benefit allows CMS under 42 CFR 410.64 to cover "additional preventive services", if it determines through the NCD process that the service is recommended with a grade A (strongly recommends) or grade B (recommends) rating by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and meets certain other requirements.
After reviewing various preventive services given a grade A or grade B recommendation by the USPSTF, CMS has decided to initiate a new national coverage analysis (NCA) on Screening and Behavioral Counseling Interventions in Primary Care to Reduce Alcohol Misuse, which is recommended with a grade B by the USPSTF. We would be interested in receiving any recommendations on the appropriate frequency of this service and those qualified to provide it based on documentation from the medical literature, current clinical practice guidelines, or the USPSTF recommendations.
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