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More Cuts in Ultrasound Payments PlannedFrom: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)Mon Jun 29 10:43:34 2009
I received this forwarded email over the weekend: Last Friday, three House Committees with jurisdiction over health care released a joint draft health reform bill. While the bill contained many worthwhile reforms, including guaranteed maternity coverage, the bill calls for reimbursement cuts to ultrasound. It would change the equipment utilization rate for all imaging modalities from 50% to 75%, resulting in a 10-15% reimbursement cut for most ultrasound services. The purpose of this rate increase is to control the rapid growth in imaging. This policy recommendation, made by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), however was only intended for advanced imaging. By including ultrasound, this draft bill goes against these recommendations. Please contact your Members of Congress today and urge them to exempt ultrasound from this provision. Ultrasound is a low-cost modality and is not a contributing factor to the rapid growth in imaging. A 2007 ACOG survey found that ultrasound is used an average of 23.79 hours per 50 hour work week, validating the current rate of 50% is accurate and should not be changed. You know what to do. Art
-- art fougner, md "May The Wings of Liberty Never Lose a Feather." - Jack Burton
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