NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Interpace Diagnostics said today that its molecular thyroid tests have received coverage for 3.8 million patients living in the Northeastern US from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ).
The payor has agreed to cover Interpace's ThyGenX and ThyraMir tests, effective Jan. 9, 2018, for thyroid nodules deemed indeterminate by standard cytopathological analysis, Interpace said.
Jack Stover, president and CEO of Interpace Diagnostics, said in a statement that the Horizon BCBSNJ decision to cover its molecular tests "has now broadened the availability of these assays and is further evidence of the medical necessity and clinical utility of our thyroid tests."
Most physicians have traditionally recommended thyroid surgery where thyroid nodule biopsy results are not clearly benign or malignant, but following traditional cytopathology review, 70 to 80 percent of these surgical outcomes are ultimately benign, Interpace said. Molecular testing using ThyGenX and ThyraMir has been shown to reduce the rate of unnecessary surgeries in indeterminate cases, the firm added.
The ThyGenX-ThyraMIR combination includes the rule-in properties of next-generation sequencing of a patient's DNA and RNA and the rule-out capabilities of a micro-RNA classifier to provide physicians with clinically actionable test results, the firm said. Based on current performance, greater than 90 percent of ThyGenX cases are reflexed to ThyraMir for additional assessment, Interpace added.
The firm noted that ThyGenX and ThyraMir are now covered for more than 275 million patients nationwide, including through Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and national and regional health plans.