A recent study by William Black (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA) and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine evaluating the economic risks and benefits of low-dose CT scans for lung cancer screening shows that such monitoring can in fact be cost-effective. The findings, published in the wake of a call by the US Government to offer Medicare coverage of CT scans for lung cancer screening, have incited discussions among physicians and policymakers alike on how best to implement lung cancer monitoring in the clinic nationwide.