Palmetto GBA, the contractor that administers Medicare in California, has issued a positive coverage policy for the Pathwork Diagnostics Inc Tissue of Origin Test. Because all Tissue of Origin test specimens are processed in the Pathwork Diagnostics Laboratory in California, the Palmetto decision means that the test will be covered for Medicare patients across the nation. The Tissue of Origin Test helps identify the primary tumor in difficult-to-diagnose cancer cases such as those that are metastatic or with a complex clinical history.
“Cancers are best treated according to their respective sites of origin and tissue type,” explained Karo K. Arzoo, MD, oncologist at the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center, chair of Hematology and Oncology at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif, and clinical instructor at University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. “This is true even when the disease is metastatic (spread to other locations in the body) at the time of diagnosis.” An accurate diagnosis of the primary tumor site helps the physician choose the best course of treatment for the patient.
The Pathwork Tissue of Origin Test is the only FDA-cleared molecular diagnostic test for tissue of origin. The test has been extensively evaluated in multiple independent studies involving more than 1,100 patient specimens, including large validation studies published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.
Source: Pathwork Diagnostics Inc