Medicare and some private insurers are threatening to cancel coverage for the effective nonsurgical treatment for common skin cancer called Image-Guided SRT. That treatment exceeds the cure rate of traditional Mohs surgery but with none of Mohs’ cutting, pain, bleeding, surgical scarring or need for reconstructive surgery. Without insurance coverage, patients will be forced to undergo Mohs surgery, go to hospitals for more expensive and less effective electron-based radiotherapy, or leave their cancer untreated.

Who’s behind this effort to deny patients access to cancer center-level care in their local dermatologist’s office? The association of hospital-based radiation oncologists, who want to limit patient choice in order to protect their institutional revenue.

Each year, some 3.3 million Americans are diagnosed with nonmelanoma skin cancer -- either basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma – making this the most common cancer type. As a result, more than a million Americans every year are told they need Mohs surgery, where dermatologists cut away cancerous skin and examine the edges of the removed tissue to make sure they got all the cancer. The process can take hours and produce extensive side effects and disfiguring results.

Today, dermatologists across the country offer the pain-free option of Image-Guided SRT. It uses low-level x-ray energy to kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue, and it has cure rate greater than 99 percent. Ultrasound imaging allows the doctor to see the tumor’s dimensions, calculate the treatment dose, and define the treatment area.

Don’t let radiation oncologists limit your treatment options just to protect their income. Tell Medicare and health insurers that you expect them to cover the cost of FDA-cleared, less invasive treatment options like Image-Guided SRT.

I’m Connie Liden. I’m a retired Registered Nurse (RN) specializing in labor and delivery. In recent years, I’ve been diagnosed with one of the most common types of skin cancer – basal cell carcinoma. I’ve had Mohs surgery on my face and, while I’m grateful to be told that I’m currently cancer-free, I know that the odds are I will be diagnosed with skin cancer again. Should that happen, I want to know that Image-Guided SRT will be an available option. I lost both my parents to cancer, first dad to multiple myeloma and then mom to colon cancer. If they were alive today and were to get skin cancer, I’d want them to have the option to choose Image-Guided SRT. It’s in my parents’ memory that I’m starting this petition. 

Please join me in demanding that, when faced with skin cancer, we all should be given a full choice of treatment options.