Washington, D.C. – The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) today sent two comment letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) outlining its position on the proposed Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) rule, as well as the proposed Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) rule for 2021.
“It is our goal, in both of these letters, to provide evidence-based feedback and key policy recommendations that will ensure greater stability– and predictability– in the healthcare delivery system amid the unprecedented circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Patrick Hope, Executive Director of MITA.
In its comment letter addressing the HOPPS proposed rule for 2021, MITA provided several recommendations to increase patient access to advanced diagnostic procedures and ensure more equitable reimbursement for various imaging services furnished in the hospital outpatient setting.
Ad Statistics
Times Displayed: 7397
Times Visited: 24 Brand-New FDA-cleared Advanced Ultrasound Medical Device available for sale or lease to Wound Care Centers or any other Medical Facilities.The Arobella 1000D is designed for non-contact or debridement ultrasound wound healing therapy, or any other wounds
For example, MITA comments criticized the current Medicare policy of bundling diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals and contrast agents as “supplies” in the hospital outpatient setting. The letter asserts that the current bundling policy for diagnostic imaging drugs discourages innovation and negatively impacts patient access to care and pressed CMS to treat these products as “drugs,” rather than “supplies.” The letter also recommends that CMS pay for diagnostic imaging drugs separately– a position that was recently reinforced by the Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment.
Given inaccuracies and inconsistencies in current cost-reporting practices, MITA also recommended that CMS develop a more effective methodology that accurately captures hospitals’ costs for furnishing items and services. As the letter notes, “current cost-reporting practices do not accurately reflect the true cost of delivering imaging services. Cost-reporting now is administratively burdensome and overly complicated, meaning that some costs are not reported accurately by some providers.”
To improve the cost-reporting regime, MITA urged CMS to continue working with interested parties on “detailed instructions to hospitals that address the appropriate reporting of nonstandard cost center codes. This would improve the accuracy of the cost center data used to calculate CT and MRI CCRs applicable to the payment rates calculated under HOPPS.”
Other recommendations in the HOPPS letter requested policy updates to ensure appropriate payment for SPECT Imaging, cardiac CT services, and prostate high-intensity focused ultrasound.
