Most decisions about what procedures will be covered under Medicare are made by local contractors, and are known as local coverage determinations (LCDs). In some cases the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decides that a coverage issue is national in scope and it issues a national coverage determination (NCD). A recent instance of an NCD is the revised determination for carotid artery stenting which can be found: http://www.cms.gov/transmittals/downloads/R115NCD.pdf.
Posted June 2010