Dear Radiation Oncology Insider,
Is the market for radiation therapy equipment showing signs of recovery? That's the tantalizing proposition of a new article we're featuring in this edition of the Insider.
A new market research report by IMV Medical Information Division has found that radiation oncology centers are again starting to budget for new equipment acquisitions after postponing purchasing plans during the Great Recession. Some one-third of respondents to an IMV survey reported they were planning to buy a new system in the next couple of years.
Could radiation therapy be on the road to better health? Read more in our Insider Exclusive, an article you can access before the rest of our membership.
On the downside, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new payment rates for 2014 that include another big cut for radiation oncology -- on top of cuts already implemented in 2013. The agency's Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2014 would cut radiation oncology payments by 5%, and it would lower payments to radiation therapy centers by a whopping 13%.
Will radiation oncology groups be able to stave off -- or at least ameliorate -- the cuts, as they did for 2013 rates? We don't know about that, but you can read about the new payment rates by clicking here.
While we're on the subject of reimbursement, CMS this week also took steps to fix one of the biggest controversies of 2013 so far: a change in reimbursement for users of radiation therapy systems by Varian Medical Systems and Elekta. Until earlier this year, procedures performed by the different systems were reimbursed at different rates, a situation that changed with the passage of an amendment in the "fiscal cliff" legislation in January that resulted in a 58% payment cut for Elekta users.
CMS has proposed a solution that would restore Elekta payments, while also raising Varian reimbursement to an equal amount. Learn more by clicking here.
Finally, click here for a story on the increase in use of advanced radiation therapy technologies for men with prostate cancer -- growth that a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association hints might not be necessary. And be sure to scroll down for the rest of the news in the Radiation Oncology Digital Community.
Disclosure notice: AuntMinnie.com is owned by IMV, Ltd.
