NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Veracyte announced yesterday that its Afirma Gene Expression Classifier has received positive policy coverage decisions by Health Care Service Corporation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and New York's Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.
The Afirma GEC employs a 142-gene signature to identify benign thyroid nodules in patients whose fine needle aspiration biopsies are deemed indeterminate following traditional cytopathology review and thus face a potentially unnecessary diagnostic surgery.
The new coverage policy decision brings the total number of insured lives covered for the test to nearly 175 million, including more than 40 million Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan members, Veracyte said.
"We are also pleased to enter into contracts with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, through which Veracyte becomes an in-network provider to these plans, which can facilitate patient access to the Afirma GEC," Veracyte President and CEO Bonnie Anderson said in a statement.
Veracyte noted it has such contracts in place with health plans representing nearly 130 million total members, including over seven million Blue Cross and Blue Shield members.