Guest Author Attorney Jennifer Searfoss: Reading the Tea Leaves – New Cost Controls on Horizon for Medicare Advanced Imaging Services
It’s a stark reality – at this time in American history, we are at the (or near the) highest level of funding for health care. The Ryan Medicare proposal and continued debate inside the Beltway and by state lawmakers makes it clear that while experts estimate that by 2082 health care spending could be 49% of our gross domestic product, this is not a sustainable reality. Further, as baby boomers retire, the contribution of working aged people through taxes and direct employer contribution to health care costs will fall.
Thus, lawmakers have been investigating ways to reduce health care costs for America’s elderly. A report released by the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) last week includes a number of recommendations for reforms aimed at “explor[ing] every avenue for protecting the access of Medicare beneficiaries to high-quality care while reducing the rate of growth in Medicare expenditures.” Chapter 2 of the report addresses “Improving payment accuracy and appropriate use of ancillary services” with recommendations to the Stark law, interim payment reforms for imaging services and a requirement for “high-use practitioners to participate in a prior authorization program for advanced diagnostic imaging services.”
