The American College of Radiology (ACR) met with Trump administration appointees to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Management and Budget to express concern about policies that could threaten implementation of clinical decision support and lead to further cuts to radiology reimbursement.
For 2017, CMS implemented site-neutral payments to new hospital off-campus sites that provide items and services to outpatients based on a new technical component rate that is 50% lower than rates paid by the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS). In 2018, CMS is proposing to continue site-neutral payments but at 25% of the HOPPS payment rate.
This proposal will not adequately pay for clinical services, especially for radiology, according to the ACR. For example, under these revised payment rates, the technical component for a CT heart scan without contrast would be paid $15 and an MRI scan of the jaw joint would be paid $37.
"The ACR [recommends] that CMS keep its site-neutral payment rates at 50% of [the HOPPS rate] for 2018 until enough data is collected to justify a different percentage," the college said in a statement. "We also believe a comparison of HOPPS rate and the technical component of the [Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS)] rates is not realistic for radiology."
