MedPAC report
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission releases its semiannual 1report Feb. 27, including a recommendation for public reporting of financial relationships between physicians and device and drug firms (2"The Gray Sheet" Oct. 6, 2008, p. 10) and one to increase equipment utilization rate assumptions used to calculate Medicare payments for imaging scans (3"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 12, 2009, p. 12). Both proposals were finalized at previous meetings of the congressional advisory group and are similar to provisions that have made their way into pending legislative language. Imaging makers and doctors complain that the use assumption rate revision proposal, which would result in substantial per-scan payment reductions, is based on faulty data. The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition is pressing CMS to work with radiologists and manufacturers to assess actual use rates by collecting data from equipment scanning logs
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