We can win the war against prostate cancer — but only if we have the right tools

When U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania courageously shared his prostate cancer diagnosis and surgery earlier this year, he credited the support of his family and his exceptional medical care for his excellent prognosis. In fact, his medical team anticipates he will not need further treatment.

As a fellow prostate cancer survivor, I am grateful that Sen. Casey’s future is bright, given his access to cutting-edge prostate diagnostic and treatment options. Unfortunately, the prognosis for many Americans is not as promising.

The grim reality is that, as a nation, we are going the wrong way in the fight against prostate cancer. A recent American Cancer Society report reveals that prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths among U.S. men, increased by 3 percent per year from 2014 through 2019, after two decades of decline.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the tools to turn this worrisome trend around, but we must improveaccess so that all prostate cancer patients can benefit.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that when patients have equal access to care, outcomes are similar for patients from different races and communities. Advanced nuclear imaging procedures, such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans, use innovative radiopharmaceuticals that can detect and help diagnose prostate cancer earlier. They also provide new information that can lead to more precise treatments.

Unfortunately, many patients don’t have access to these scans, due to outdated Medicare policies that provide inadequate reimbursement. As a result, a growing number of hospitals and healthcare facilities, particularly those in rural areas or medically underserved communities, cannot afford to offer their Medicare patients the latest technology and must rely on older diagnostic tests. 

All men are at risk for prostate cancer, and that risk grows as they age. However, the incidence of prostate cancer is 70 percent higher among Black men, and they are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than other demographic groups. Medicare’s outdated and inadequate reimbursement method for PET scans threatens to exacerbate the unequal diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer among different populations and communities across the nation.

The threat is not limited to prostate cancer. Precision radiopharmaceuticals can enable physicians to better diagnose, evaluate and treat a number of cancers and conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, which also take a disproportionate toll on minority communities — but only if these diagnostic nuclear imaging tests are available to their patients. Many Medicare patients are losing access to this life-saving technology.

To address this issue, a bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress to allow health care providers to better manage costs while also delivering more targeted and cost-efficient care. The federal Facilitating Innovative Nuclear Diagnostics (FIND) Act, H.R. 1199 and S. 1544, would update the Medicare reimbursement model to appropriately recognize the value of precision diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals in improving treatments and saving lives.

In a nation that leads the world in medical research and innovation, an outdated reimbursement policy should not restrict the ability of Medicare beneficiaries, including those in living rural or underserved communities, to access innovative imaging that can improve the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer and other deadly diseases. Passage of the FIND Act is needed now.

Col. (ret.) James E. Williams, Jr. is a board member at the Alliance for Prostate Cancer Prevention and a recognized patient advocate.