The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently issued a decision to expand Medicare coverage for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HCT) for eligible Medicare patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) based on decades-long research led by investigators at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Cancer Center, in collaboration with investigators in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) and advocacy experts at the American Society of Hematology (ASH), American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, and the National Marrow Donor Program.
MDS is a group of cancers that affect the body’s ability to produce healthy blood cells. Allogeneic HCT is the only curative therapy for patients with MDS.
Since then, studies on MDS led by MCW, and in collaboration with investigators from other institutions participating in the CIBMTR and BMT CTN, have provided access to transplants for nearly 6,000 Americans with MDS over the age of 65. The substantial increase in patients treated with allogeneic HCT provided data on the safety and efficacy of these transplants and created access for a critical and disadvantaged group of patients.Â
Furthermore, results presented at ASH meetings and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology demonstrated patients over 65 who received the transplant had a significant survival advantage over those without a donor and saw improved quality of life, as published in the American Journal of Hematology.
