The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is expanding Medicare coverage of liver transplants to include certain patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This will be Medicare's first movement towards transplant coverage for a liver malignancy.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the predominant primary malignancy of the liver. It accounts for more than 80% of liver tumors. The tumors are usually found in male patients with cirrhotic livers from other diseases, such as hepatitis. Medicare has covered liver transplants for adults since 1990, beginning with limited coverage of only 7 diagnoses. Coverage was expanded significantly in 1996 and 1999 to include all types of end-stage liver disease except for malignancies.