In the wake of a new analysis by the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) showing that imaging spending under Medicare is down for a second year, patient-advocacy group Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) held a press conference on Friday to call on Congress to stop proposed cuts to imaging services that AMIC, MITA, and other organizations believe are increasingly harming patient care.
The MITA analysis showed that per-beneficiary imaging utilization within Medicare has dropped by more than 5% since 2009, with even greater declines of about 6.5% in advanced imaging services. Since 2006, per-beneficiary spending on imaging services has fallen by close to 17%, while the bill for nonimaging services has grown by 21%, MITA said.
AMIC, along with patient-advocacy groups Colon Cancer Alliance, Lung Cancer Alliance, and ColonTown, gathered today on Capitol Hill to call on Congress to reject further measures that would jeopardize patient access to imaging services, citing the findings in the MITA report.
New data indicate patients are receiving fewer imaging procedures for the second year in a row, AMIC warned.
