AMA backs bills to stop Medicare imaging pay cuts

On Aug. 22, the AMA sent letters of support to the sponsors of House and Senate legislation that would rescind the multiple payment reduction policy applying to the professional component of certain services. Under current Medicare policy, if a physician interprets multiple advanced imaging scans provided to a single patient on the same day, the payment for the second and any subsequent scan is decreased by 25%. Under a proposed 2013 fee schedule rule released in July, this policy would be expanded so that the reduction would apply even if two different physicians in the same practice interpreted multiple scans provided to the same patient in a single office visit.