ACR Supports Access to Medicare Imaging Act of 2007
Legislation Introduced to Protect Seniors’ Access to Lifesaving Imaging Care
New Study Exposes Far-Reaching Impact of DRA Cuts
The American College of Radiology (ACR) strongly supports the Access to Medicare Imaging Act of 2007, bipartisan legislation calling for a two-year moratorium on the drastic medical imaging reimbursement cuts included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) and a comprehensive Government Accountability Office (GAO) study to analyze the impact of the DRA cuts on patient access to lifesaving medical imaging care, particularly in rural and medically underserved areas. The bill was introduced Feb. 28 by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., and co-sponsored by 25 representatives, both Republican and Democrat.
“Congress needs to act now to stop these ill-advised medical imaging cuts before they significantly harm our seniors’ ability to readily receive lifesaving and life-enhancing medical imaging care. ” said Arl Van Moore Jr., M.D., FACR, chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors. “The adverse effects that the DRA cuts have on physicians’ ability to provide appropriate imaging care will be made more acute with each passing month. I commend Rep. McCarthy for addressing these disastrous cuts early in the legislative session.”
The GAO study called for by the legislation is vital in light of July 2006 congressional testimony by the heads of both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that neither body recommended the DRA cuts to Congress nor conducted any study as to their effect on patient access prior to passage of the DRA.
“Congress must put a halt to further payment cuts in medical imaging services for Medicare patients until the GAO can sort through just how this will affect Medicare patients’ access to these life-saving services,” said McCarthy. “Our legislation recognizes the importance of imaging services and puts the brakes on these cuts while the Federal government studies the real impact of this poorly conceived policy.”
The DRA, passed by Congress in February 2006, arbitrarily capped the technical component reimbursement for physician office imaging to the lesser of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System or Medicare Fee Schedule payment, slashing reimbursement by up to 50 percent for many life-saving technologies, such as CT angiography and brain or spine MRI.
These drastic cuts may force many physicians to stop offering much-needed imaging services or limit the number of Medicare patients they receive. They may also discourage research and development of new imaging technologies that are increasingly replacing more invasive (and more costly) techniques. Medicare beneficiaries, particularly in rural areas, may be forced to endure increased wait and travel times to receive imaging services and higher co-payments.
Moran Company Report Assesses True Impact of DRA Cuts
To educate Congress and other governmental bodies on the detrimental effects of these cuts, the ACR has joined a broad coalition of patient advocacy groups, medical manufacturers, and providers to form the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC). AMIC represents more than 75,000 physicians, providers, and patients, as well as medical imaging manufacturers who employ tens of thousands of workers.
A report by the Moran Company— released by the AMIC today —finds that the cuts in Medicare imaging payments under the DRA will mean that the total Medicare reimbursement for imaging services in physician offices and imaging centers will fall an estimated 18 percent to 19 percent below total reimbursement for similar services in hospital outpatient departments.
The report also found that, in 2007, 89 percent of the services affected by the DRA limits will be paid at rates less than the estimated cost of performing the service in the physician office setting.
“The effects of the DRA imaging cuts are, and will be, deeper and more far reaching than anyone involved in the formulation of the DRA could have imagined,” Moore said. “We believe the pause called for in this legislation will allow Congress to get all the facts and receive input from radiologists, the medical experts in this area, and other stakeholders. It will enable the creation of a more effective approach to these services and allow patients to more readily receive high-quality imaging care.”
To read the Moran report, an update of a similar analysis done by The Moran Company in September 2006, in its entirety, please visit the AMIC Web site at www.imagingaccess.org.
For more information regarding the Access to Medicare Imaging Act of 2007 or the DRA, as well as the latest on the ACR’s efforts to oppose the DRA imaging reimbursement cuts, please visit the “Imaging under Attack” section of the ACR Web site at http://www.acr.org/s_acr/doc.asp?CID=2537&DID=23825.