PAYMENT CUTS!!! Take Action!

Important info from a resident at OSU:

STOP IMAGING CUTS! ACR INITIATIVE

We need your help to voice our opposition to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (CMS-1524-P).

As you may be aware, efforts by CMS to apply a multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) to the professional component of advanced diagnostic imaging services administered to the same patient, by the same physician, during the same session, will severely affect radiologists’ ability to provide high quality imaging services to patients.

CMS’ decision to apply an MPPR to the professional component of diagnostic imaging services is rooted in the incorrect assumption that there are considerable efficiencies when radiologists interpret successive imaging studies on the same patient during the same session.

Unfortunately, CMS has once again failed to recognize that radiologists are morally and professionally obligated to expend an equal amount of time, effort, and skill on interpreting images, irrespective of whether or not previous examinations have been performed on the same day, or the modality or section of the body under examination.

In light of this reality, we need all radiologists to voice their concerns about this particular portion of the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule by submitting a comment to CMS before the August 31st deadline.

Action Needed: Please take a moment to personalize the attached draft letter and then send to CMS at www.regulations.gov . After accessing the web site, please complete the following steps to formally submit your comment:

1) Once you click on the link above, you need to search for the "Proposed Rule" and typing in "2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule" The top result is the one you want to comment on (due by 8/30/11 @ 1159pm)

2) Fill out the information in Section 1 (First Name, Last Name, City, Country, State, Postal Code, Organization Name, and Category).

3) Due to the character limit, DO NOT cut and paste the draft letter template into Section 2, This is where you will type your comment.

4) In order to attach your edited comment letter under Section 3, “Upload File(s),” simply a. Click “Browse” to find an attachment stored on your computer or other disk. b. Select the file you want to attach. The name of the file will appear in the blank field in the Attachments section. c. Click “Attach” to confirm that you have found the correct file.

5) We would appreciate a copy of the letter that you share with CMS, which you could forward to Melody Ballesteros at mballesteros@acr.org. We appreciate your support and response to this initiative. Please feel free to contact Maurine Spillman-Dennis, Senior Director, Economics and Health Policy, (msdennis@acr.org) or Josh Cooper, Senior Director, Government Relations (jcooper@acr.org), if you have any questions.