A national coverage determination (NCD) is a United States' nationwide determination of whether Medicare will pay for an item or service.
Medicare coverage is limited to items and services that are considered "reasonable and necessary" for the diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury (and within the scope of a Medicare benefit category).
In the absence of a NCD, an item or service is covered at the discretion of the Medicare contractors based on a Local Coverage Determination (LCD).
Read more about National Coverage Determination: What Triggers An NCD?, The NCD Decision Process, Relationship of NCDs and LCDs, Evaluating LCDs For NCD Consideration
Famous quotes containing the word national:
“Perhaps our national ambition to standardize ourselves has behind it the notion that democracy means standardization. But standardization is the surest way to destroy the initiative, to benumb the creative impulse above all else essential to the vitality and growth of democratic ideals.”
—Ida M. Tarbell (1857–1944)