Table 1.

Study variables and definitions.^*

Variable	Variable description and values	Dependent or independent variable
Adopter	1 - Adopter, payer who adopted a positive coverage policy for sequencing on or before April 1, 2019 0 - Nonadopter, payer who had a negative coverage policy for sequencing as of April 1, 2019	Dependent
First coverage date by payer	Date of payer's first coverage decision for sequencing	Dependent
Pre-NCD adopter	1 - Adopter, payer with the first coverage policy for sequencing adopted before CMS released draft NCD on November 30, 2017 0 - Adopter, payer with the first coverage policy for sequencing adopted after CMS released draft NCD on November 30, 2017	Dependent
Payer size	Number of covered lives for commercial enrollment: larger (≥1 000 000); smaller (<1 000 00)	Independent
BlueCross BlueShield member	1 - payer is a member of BCBSA 0 - payer is not a member BCBSA	Independent
Offers Medicare Advantage	1 - Payer offers Medicare Advantage 0 - Payer does not offer Medical Advantage	Independent
Adopted a third-party policy	1 - payer who used a third-party LBM policy in the coverage decision for sequencing 0 - payer who did not use a third-party LBM policy in the coverage decision for sequencing	Independent

BCBSA indicates BlueCross BlueShield Association; CMS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; LBM, Laboratory Benefit Management company; NCD, National Coverage Determination; sequencing, next-generation tumor sequencing.

^*Positive coverage policy states coverage of sequencing for any indication, any sequencing test(s), and any policy stipulation (eg, with or without prior authorization). Negative coverage policy states that sequencing is not covered for any indication or any sequencing test(s). Third-party policy is by a third-party laboratory benefit management company.