Dear AuntMinnie Member,
The heated battle over physician self-referral in the U.S. got a little hotter today when representatives of organized radiology testified to Congress on the detrimental impact that self-referral may be having on the national healthcare system.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health heard testimony from four groups representing different segments of the imaging industry, according to an article by staff writer Tracie L. Thompson that we're featuring in our Imaging Center Digital Community.
The subcommittee is holding the hearings as part of its review of recommendations made by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which has advised Congress to set standards governing which physicians would be allowed to receive reimbursement for imaging studies under federal healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
One of today's speakers was Dr. James Borgstede, chairman of the American College of Radiology's Board of Chancellors, who said that the ACR believes that nonradiologist physicians who conduct imaging in their own offices are responsible for skyrocketing imaging utilization rates. Borgstede cited statistics indicating that as many as half of all imaging studies conducted by nonradiologists could be unnecessary.
But not all of the testimony favored the MedPAC recommendations. A physician representing nuclear cardiology groups opposed the guidelines, while a vendor representative expressed reservations about the way they were developed.
The hearings represent a promising development for radiology in getting its message delivered to the highest levels of U.S. government. But whether that will produce any results is another thing entirely. Congress can be notoriously slow in adopting new legislation, and any move to place limits on imaging reimbursement will be resisted fiercely by other medical specialties -- as the president of the American College of Cardiology indicated just a week ago.
Either way, the battle is just beginning.
Get the rest of the story by clicking here, or visit the Imaging Center Digital Community at centers.auntminnie.com.
