3/2/2006 - ACR Joins Other Medical Organizations, Manufacturers, and Patient Advocacy Groups in Letter to Capitol Hill Opposing Deficit Reduction Act Imaging Cuts
The American College of Radiology (ACR) and 30 other medical organizations, manufacturers, and patient advocacy groups have sent a letter to the US House of Representatives and the US Senate opposing medical imaging provisions in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) which threaten to restrict patient access to care (particularly in rural areas), may discourage research and development of new technologies which could benefit patients, and may lead to higher costs for Medicare beneficiaries.
The DRA arbitrarily capped the technical component reimbursement for physician office imaging to the lesser of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) or Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) payment. The Congressional Budget Office greatly underestimated the policy's financial impact on radiologist physicians and other imaging providers, stating that the cuts will reduce reimbursement for imaging services by $2.8 billion over five years. However, preliminary ACR analysis reveals that the cuts, primarily affecting radiologists, actually amount to nearly $1.2 billion annually or $6 billion over five years.
"This provision singles out imaging services to absorb over one third of all the Medicare payment reductions in the DRA," the letter states.
The drastic Medicare reimbursement cuts for out-of-hospital medical imaging procedures in the bill may force many physicians to stop offering much needed imaging services or limit the number of Medicare patients they receive, and may force radiologists in rural areas to relocate to hospitals in larger cities.
"…we fear that these cuts will have numerous unintended consequences, including potentially diminishing access to imaging services outside the hospital setting," states the letter.
These alarming cuts, in tandem with a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) move to cut reimbursement for imaging exams on contiguous body parts in the same session by 25% in 2006 with an additional 25% reduction in 2007, will stifle research and development of new technologies that are increasingly replacing more invasive, and often more costly, procedures.
For example, starting January 1, 2007, appropriate Medicare reimbursement would be cut 38% - 69% for many cutting edge technologies such as the new 64-slice CT scanners which perform cardiac CTA (computed tomography angiography) that produce 3-dimensional images of the heart allowing doctors to pinpoint problems without more invasive techniques.
The letter states, "these cuts were included without any public deliberation by either body of the Congress…We ask that you work with us and the committees of jurisdiction on this issue to fix this new provision in the law prior to its implementation in January 2007."
Click Here to read the letter to the US Senate in its entirety.
Click Here to read the letter to the US House of Representatives in its entirety.