An Influential Federal advisory panel has voted to recommend lower 2006 Medicare payments than expected by physicians and hospitals, as well as other policy actions affecting both. (emphasis added)
While reimbursement levels are a concern, it's the other "policy proposals" that really scare me.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted to recommend a 2.7 percent increase in Medicare payments to doctors, which is less than the expected increase in doctors' costs, but substantially more than doctors would get under current law, under which payments would be cut five percent next year if Congress takes no action, reported the New York Times.
[. . . ]
The commission expressed concern about the proliferation of imaging equipment and services in doctors' offices, and urged Congress to direct the secretary of health and human services to set national standards for doctors who perform or interpret diagnostic imaging studies billed to Medicare - a move which would alter the historical role of states and medical specialty boards in physician licensing and certification, the Times noted. The standards would cover the training and education of doctors who bill Medicare for X-rays, CAT scans, PET scans, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, (emphasis added) echocardiography and other imaging. The panel maintained that poor quality diagnostic imaging can lead to repeat tests, misdiagnoses and improper treatment, the Times added.
[. . . ]
So this proposal could entrench delayed reads as the standard for all radiography as a consequence of the requirement that only those meeting federal standards for "training and education" interpreted imaging studies. Also CMS could easily decide that bedside ultrasound imaging was merely a component of the evaluation and management (E&M) service and not separately compensable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/politics/18medicare.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
