Making the Mark: Incoming SNMMI President Offers a Blueprint for the Year

A knowledgeable voice among nuclear medicine leaders, the president-elect of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) returns to the pages of Molecular Imaging Insight with some commentary on recent changes in the industry, new items on the molecular imaging agenda and worthy initiatives in the wings.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging has a packed agenda for the coming year. We are implementing a number of new and important initiatives across several fronts, including advancing the approval, availability and utilization of new technologies, enhancing the professional environment, and advancing the quality and value of nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and radionuclide therapy.

For 2014-15, SNMMI has formed a new Quality and Evidence Department that will consolidate our efforts in quality and cost effectiveness by developing quality measures, increasing the number of appropriate use criteria and evidence-based guidelines, and supporting comparative effectiveness research. These efforts will help nuclear medicine professionals, healthcare providers and patients negotiate the healthcare system to ensure access to nuclear medicine and molecular imaging procedures when they are the most effective and appropriate option available.

Another focus for SNMMI will be facilitating the translation of new radiopharmaceuticals to the clinic, collaborating with academia, industry, other imaging associations, and government stakeholders.  SNMMI will host a stakeholder meeting to clarify the regulatory climate and recommend ways to improve existing approval pathways. In addition, in the coming year, SNMMI will be cosponsoring workshops with the World Molecular Imaging Society and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology to identify barriers to the translation of new molecular imaging technologies to the clinic and how to overcome them.

A third area of attention for SNMMI will be to demonstrate to healthcare providers, patients and third-party payers the value of nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and radionuclide therapy and the impact these procedures have in improving patient health outcomes.

The landscape is shifting for nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, as for many other areas of medicine, toward incorporating principles of quality, evidence and value into everyday clinical decision-making and practice while at the same time ensuring appropriate and adequate reimbursement. SNMMI was disappointed in the CMS decision to require coverage with evidence development (CED) for beta-amyloid imaging. The appropriate use criteria SNMMI developed jointly with the Alzheimer’s Association demonstrate that adequate evidence exists for Medicare to cover beta-amyloid PET in certain clinical scenarios. However, SNMMI appreciates that CMS included CED with short-term outcomes related to changes in management.

SNMMI has formed a working group with the Alzheimer’s Association to develop a project to show that amyloid imaging improves outcomes and has a positive impact on patient care. The group is now actively developing a protocol to generate data that will answer these questions.

Looking ahead to the SNMMI Annual Meeting in St. Louis this month, attendees will be participating in cutting-edge sessions on PET/MRI, amyloid and tau PET for dementia, hypoxia imaging in cancer, optical imaging, nanoparticles, Ra-223 dichloride therapy for metastatic prostate cancer, and theranostics. There also will be sessions focused on honing current skills, quality, and dose optimization, as well as expert presentations and sessions dealing with regulatory issues. I’m really looking forward to SNMMI’s plenaries this year. Sunday’s Henry N. Wagner, Jr., Lecture will focus on “The Future of Patient-centered Medicine.” It will be delivered by Jonathan Alter, an American journalist, award-winning book author, and news correspondent who is a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Monday’s Cassen lecture will be delivered by Barry A. Siegel, MD. Currently professor of radiology and medicine and chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Siegel is a pioneer in clinical PET and co-chair of the National Oncologic PET Registry.

SNMMI has several additional initiatives that should be mentioned. In the past three years, we’ve been building a very successful outreach program to explain nuclear medicine and molecular imaging for both patients and healthcare providers. Nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and radionuclide therapy are invaluable in patient care but are not well understood. We have collaborated with several physician and patient associations in educational initiatives. We are now expanding the program to facilitate dialog between local nuclear medicine practitioners and their referring physicians. Also, SNMMI is expanding its focus on radionuclide therapy. Recently, Ra-223 dichloride was approved for clinical use by the FDA, and the society will support this with education and appropriate use criteria. In addition, SNMMI will develop workshops, focused education and regulatory activities related to new targeted radionuclide therapies.

Dr. Herscovitch is the chief of the PET Department at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. He will be serving as SNMMI president in a personal capacity.