MPPR Rollback and Mammography Protections in Consolidated Appropriations Act: A Victory for Patients and Providers

The American College of Radiology (ACR) applauds Congress for including access to imaging care protections for the most sick and injured of Medicare beneficiaries and women seeking mammograms in the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The legislation was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President today (Dec. 18). “The ACR, its member physicians, patients and others have worked with Congress to improve and safeguard patient access to vital imaging care through the protections in this bill. The access to care that these steps will allow can literally mean the difference between life and death for many Americans,” said Bibb Allen, Jr. MD, FACR, chair of the American College of Radiology Board of Chancellors. An ACR spearheaded 80 percent roll-back (from 25 percent to 5 percent) of a Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR) to Medicare reimbursement for interpretation of advanced imaging scans performed on the same patient in the same session, on the same day, is part of the bill. In recent years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) applied a 25 percent MPPR to the professional component of these services. Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, the bill caps any reduction at 5 percent — more in line with peer-reviewed research that shows that any efficiencies gained in that scenario are variable and, at most, a fraction of what CMS contends, but has never produced documentation to support. In fact, CMS consistently ignored a statutory man...
Source: American College of Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: news