ACR stands with Ways and Means on CMS's proposed screening cuts

The American College of Radiology (ACR) said in a Sept. 14 statement it is standing behind the House Ways and Means Committee when it comes to a radiology-related Medicare reimbursement policy.

Potential congressional plans for cutting Medicare reimbursement for low-dose CT lung cancer screenings would be a problem for patients and providers, the ACR said in the statement.

“This exam is the first and only cost-effective test proven to significantly reduce lung cancer deaths,” the statement said.

And removing that option from Medicare coverage would deprive patients in rural areas of the test whose lives it could save through early detection and would deprive proper reimbursement to the providers (especially smaller hospitals and imaging centers) who perform those tests, according to the ACR.

“We are pleased these congressmen want to protect access to lung cancer screening. These exams can save more lives than any cancer test in history, but only if patients have ready access to them,” ACHR Board of Chancellors Chair James A. Brink, MD, in the statement.

The U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee includes several members who feel the same, including a group of bipartisan representatives who sent a letter to CMS. The letter comes during CMS’s public comments period for the 2017 proposed update to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS).

The letter asks CMS to reconsider its position on cutting Medicare reimbursements in the new rules.

“In light of recent policy changes that would expand access to life-saving screening services, we write to specifically raise concern that these proposed reimbursement cuts to screening services will only serve to undermine the recent progress,” they said.

The ACR statement says its members and those of 80 other professional organizations, including the Lung Cancer Alliance, have similar concerns about restricted access to lung cancer CT screenings for—early detection is important in improving survival rates for a disease that could kill 160,000 people a year.

“These cuts would pull the rug out from under emerging screening programs and may contribute to unnecessary lung cancer deaths,” said Brink.

The potential cuts come only a year after CMS included language in its regulation to allow for better access to preventative screening for many types of diseases.