Several physicians' groups and practitioners spoke out against diagnostic imaging payment reductions as outlined in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 in a hearing before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Tuesday.
Offering testimony against the proposed reimbursement reductions were Dr. Arl Van Moore, chair of the board of chancellors of the American College of Radiology; Dr. Pamela Douglas, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Duke University Medical Center; John Donahue, president and chief executive officer of National Imaging Associates; Dr. Doug Laube, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Dr. Landis Griffith, director of nuclear medicine at Baylor University Medical Center; F. Lynn May, chief executive officer of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists; Robert Baumgartner, chief executive officer of the Center for Diagnostic Imaging; and Dr. Donald Rucker, vice president and chief medical officer for Siemens Medical Solutions.
The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology also submitted testimony against DRA 2005 diagnostic imaging payment reductions to the committee.
According to the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC), a coalition of physicians, patients, and providers working to delay $8 billion of imaging payment reductions included in the DRA 2005, many of the representatives on the panel urged passage of H.R. 5704, a bill introduced by Rep. Joe Pitts and more than 50 other members of Congress calling for a two-year moratorium on the DRA cuts while the Government Accountability Office analyzes the impact on patients.
The AMIC reported that in response to questions from the subcommittee, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) chairman Glenn Hackbarth said that MedPAC had not proposed the DRA cuts and has not evaluated the potential impact of the cuts on growth in utilization of imaging or on patients. Herb Kuhn, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) director of Medicare management, also said that CMS had not proposed the DRA cuts and had not yet evaluated their potential impact on patients. He said that the agency would take the potential impact on patient access into account when developing regulations to implement the DRA reductions, AMIC said.
Kuhn also admitted to the subcommittee that CMS had not yet conducted a detailed analysis of offsetting savings and efficiencies brought about by the substitution of imaging for more invasive and costly procedures, according to AMIC.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
July 19, 2006
Related Reading
Public Citizen makes case against DRA, July 11, 2006
CMS warns of nine-day payment hold due to DRA, July 7, 2006
House bill seeks to delay DRA imaging cuts, June 29, 2006
Strategic planning considerations and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, June 27, 2005
House bill proposes repeal of DRA imaging cuts, May 3, 2006
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