Lawmakers are considering cutting the amount doctors receive from Medicare for the use of medical imaging like CT scans and MRIs.
They see the cuts, which could come next year, as a way to prevent overuse of the technology which drives up health care costs.
The government proposed cutting up to 38% of the reimbursements to doctors who participate in Medicare and use the equipment.
Jannette Collins, M.D. and UC's Ben Felson, Professor and Chair of Radiology say the move, if enacted, would force rural imaging centers with less volume to close.
That would, in turn, overburden urban imaging centers.
"It will mean an increased wait time. It will mean some patients will be delayed in diagnosis of cancer and other serious illnesses and the consequence of that will result in more deaths and more expensive treatment," said Collins.
She says that imaging is directly related to a decrease in patient death and screening mammography is perhaps the best example of that.
"Because many imaging facilities rely on the reimbursement for high-end imaging to offset the relative reimbursement costs and risks of mammography, that may mean that many women will not have access to mammographic procedures because some imaging facilities will stop providing mammographic imaging," explained Collins.
Collins is concerned that physicians who also own scanning equipment may be ordering scans that might not otherwise be necessary, but serve to pay for the equipment.
She argues regulation of such “conflicts of interest” need to be examined rather than cutting the way lawmakers are considering.
