The U.S. House of Representatives last night passed the final version of legislation that cuts Medicare reimbursement for imaging procedures by billions of dollars over the next five years.
The House voted to pass an amended version of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which makes cuts in various government programs in order to reduce the federal deficit. The amended bill had already been passed by the Senate on December 21. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the legislation.
The bill calls for cutting reimbursement for out-of-hospital imaging studies by capping the technical component reimbursement for physician office imaging to the lesser of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System or the Medicare Fee Schedule payment. The bill also includes a provision that cuts reimbursement for imaging exams on contiguous body parts in the same session by 25% in 2006, and another 27% in 2007.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cuts will reduce reimbursement for imaging studies by $2.8 billion over five years. But the American College of Radiology of Reston, VA, which opposed the bill, estimates that the cuts will amount to $1.2 billion annually, for a total of $6 billion over five years.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
February 2, 2006
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