CMS announces physician payment cuts

As written in the ACC Newsletter:

The Wall Street Journal (10/31, Favole, subscription required) reported that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced new rules to cut payments for physicians who use expensive medical-imaging equipment. Under the rules, the use of equipment for MRIs and CT scans to screen for diseases will result in cuts of up to 38 percent for physicians who are paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.       

Bloomberg News (10/31, Nussbaum) reported that CMS also announced a "21.5 percent cut for all physicians" with "lower reimbursements for specialists." The "reductions will be made over four years rather than imposed at once in 2010." According to Allen S. Lichter, chief executive officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, "cancer-care doctors will see a six percent reduction over four years." Meanwhile, Jack Lewin, chief executive officer American College of Cardiology, noted that "the phase-in means 'a slow death' for heart doctors."       

Lewin noted that "the rule puts into effect policy proposals that will unacceptably reduce payments for cardiovascular-related services," CQ HealthBeat (10/31, Reichard, subscription required) reported.
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