House lawmakers propose bill to bolster payment for imaging AI
House lawmakers recently introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening reimbursement for radiology artificial intelligence products.
Six members of Congress including Rep. John Joyce, MD, R-Pa., are proposing the Health Tech Investment Act, which has drawn praise from the imaging industry. The bill would assign all U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared AI devices to a new classification under the hospital outpatient payment system.
Joyce and colleagues said the New Technology Ambulatory Classification would last a minimum of five years, allowing time to gather data on devices before assigning a permanent payment code. This comes after lawmakers introduced the same legislation in the U.S. Senate earlier this year.
“Innovation is the bedrock of American healthcare, and I have always worked to ensure that all patients receive access to innovative medicines and devices,” Joyce, a trained dermatologist, said in a statement. “The bipartisan Health Tech Act will ensure that American patients, regardless of rural or urban care settings, can access new, innovative AI-enabled medical devices that are revolutionizing healthcare.”
Reps. Scott Peters, D-Calif., Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, Brad Schneider, D-Ill., Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Angie Craig, D-Minn., also are co-sponsoring the House bill. The Health Tech Investment Act has drawn support from imaging industry stakeholders including the Brem Foundation to Defeat Breast Cancer (named after radiologist Rachel Brem, MD) and AdvaMed. The latter is an imaging industry lobbying group representing nearly 70 companies including Canon, GE HealthCare, Philips, and Siemens Healthineers.
“Breakthroughs in AI-enabled medical devices are already transforming patient care, but without certainty of payment, innovative medical technology will remain out of reach for many Americans,” Rich Fabian, MBA, acting chair of AdvaMed’s Imaging Division and president and CEO of Fujifilm Sonosite, said in a statement. “If passed, the Health Tech Investment Act would make these critical technologies accessible to even more healthcare professionals and the patients who rely on them.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.