Survey: Medical imaging should not be subject to Medicare cuts in reform

The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) has released the results of a poll by Zogby International that suggests “Americans recognize the value of medical imaging as a critical component of high-quality healthcare.”

The online poll, conducted from Sept. 4-8, found that 71 percent of voters oppose making further Medicare cuts to imaging procedures such as MRI and CT as a means to pay for healthcare reform. AMIC reported that 78 percent of the survey respondents (out of 4,426 likely voters) said that Congress’s proposed cuts to medical imaging services “will have a significant impact on physicians’ ability to detect diseases—such as heart disease and cancer—at their earliest stages."

In a reference to President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform speech to Congress last night, 66 percent of respondents said that during his speech he should have asked Congress to reject additional medical imaging cuts.

“With nearly eight out of 10 voters saying that if Congress cuts Medicare spending for medical imaging, early detection will be compromised, it’s clear that the American public understand how important imaging is to healthcare reform,” said Tim Trysla, executive director of AMIC. “Now is the time for Congress and the Administration to listen to voters by rejecting deep Medicare cuts to diagnostic imaging services.”

AMIC also noted that it opposes proposals in current healthcare reform legislation in the Senate that would increase the utilization rate assumption for advanced imaging equipment from 50 percent to 90 percent, and proposals that would reduce payments for single-session imaging on contiguous body parts by 25 percent. It also opposes a House provision that would increase the utilization rate assumption to 75 percent. AMIC maintained that these changes to the Medicare reimbursement formula would limit Medicare patients’ access to diagnostic imaging tests.
Michael Bassett,

Contributor

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