Exact Sciences’ Cologuard will now be covered as an in-network service for patients of Anthem BlueCross of California, the organization announced today.
“This is a major milestone for members of Anthem in California who will now enjoy in-network coverage of this at home colon cancer screening test,” Exact Sciences President, CEO and Chairman Kevin Conroy said in a statement. “Cologuard is exceeding the expectations of both patients and physicians as adoption rapidly grew during its first full year of commercialization.”
Anthem has 37 million members and is the second-largest plan in California. Exact Sciences looks to pursue similar agreements with Anthem affiliates in other regions during the first half of 2016, it announced.
Exact Sciences also announced today that the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Colorectal Cancer supported a three-year testing interval with Cologuard.
“We are very pleased that this robust modeling supports a three-year interval for screening with Cologuard, which is consistent with the Medicare coverage policy for Cologuard and the American Cancer Society’s colon cancer screening guidelines,” Conroy said in a statement.
According to a release, the authors conducted a screening study in a population of 200,000 virtual individuals. Results showed that using Cologuard every three years compared favorably to having a colonoscopy every 10 years.