Legislation Would Require Greater Transparency In Physician Self-Referrals For Imaging Procedures
Main Category: MRI / PET / UltrasoundAlso Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 31 Jul 2008 - 11:00 PDT
| Patient / Public: | ![]() |
4 (1 votes) |
| Health Professional: | ![]() |
3.75 (4 votes) |
| Article Opinions: | 0 posts |
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently introduced legislation (S 3343) that would require physicians to disclose their financial ties to imaging services ordered under Medicare when making self-referrals, CQ HealthBeat reports.
The legislation is intended to reduce physicians' incentives for referring patients to imaging providers in which the doctor has a financial stake by requiring them to disclose such ties. The bill would require physicians to provide beneficiaries with a written list of alternative providers when referring imaging services, such as MRIs, CT and PET scans. The measure also would require the list to specify which providers are in proximity to the beneficiary's home. The legislation is based on recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission after the Government Accountability Office found that Medicare imaging spending increased about 200% between 2000 and 2006. The Congressional Budget Office did not score the measure, but a Grassley aide said it could reduce Medicare spending.
Mo Zilly, director of government relations for the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, said that MITA would support the measure because it improves transparency. However, she said it does little to reduce overuse of imaging services in Medicare and instead shifts costs from one provider to another.
Grassley had included a similar provision under Medicare legislation on which he worked with Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that failed to receive consideration. Ultimately, the new Medicare law did not include the imaging disclosure provision (Parnass, CQ HealthBeat, 7/29).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
|
Please rate this article: (Hover over the stars then click to rate) |
Patient / Public: |
or |
Health Professional: |
Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
![]()
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
| Back to top | Back to front page | List of All Medical Articles |
| Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | © 2009 MediLexicon International Ltd |





