The American College of Radiology (ACR) strongly supports the Access to Medicare Imaging Act of 2007, bipartisan legislation calling for a two-year moratorium on the drastic medical imaging reimbursement cuts included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) and a comprehensive Government Accountability Office (GAO) study to analyze the impact of the DRA cuts on patient access to lifesaving medical imaging care, particularly in rural and medically underserved areas. The bill was introduced Feb. 28 by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., and co-sponsored by 25 representatives, both Republican and Democrat.

"Congress needs to act now to stop these ill-advised medical imaging cuts before they significantly harm our seniors' ability to readily receive lifesaving and life-enhancing medical imaging care. " said Arl Van Moore Jr., M.D., FACR, chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors. "The adverse effects that the DRA cuts have on physicians' ability to provide appropriate imaging care will be made more acute with each passing month. I commend Rep. McCarthy for addressing these disastrous cuts early in the legislative session."

The GAO study called for by the legislation is vital in light of July 2006 congressional testimony by the heads of both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that neither body recommended the DRA cuts to Congress nor conducted any study as to their effect on patient access prior to passage of the DRA.
"Congress must put a halt to further payment cuts in medical imaging services for Medicare patients until the GAO can sort through just how this will affect Medicare patients' access to these life-saving services," said McCarthy. "Our legislation recognizes the importance of imaging services and puts the brakes on these cuts while the Federal government studies the real impact of this poorly conceived policy."

The DRA, passed by Congress in February 2006, arbitrarily capped the technical component reimbursement for physician office imaging to the lesser of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System or Medicare Fee Schedule payment, slashing reimbursement by up to 50 percent for many life-saving technologies, such as CT angiography and brain or spine MRI.

These drastic cuts may force many physicians to stop offering much-needed imaging services or limit the number of Medicare patients they receive. They may also discourage research and development of new imaging technologies that are increasingly replacing more invasive (and more costly) techniques. Medicare beneficiaries, particularly in rural areas, may be forced to endure increased wait and travel times to receive imaging services and higher co-payments.

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