The ACR cited the March 2009 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report to Congress when requesting the GAO study. That report found overall Medicare imaging utilization growth for 2006-2008 was 2 percent or less nationally — at or below the growth rate of other major physician services. However, the number of self-referred MRI and CT scans in the Medicare system as well as Medicare spending on self-referred MRI and CT grew at nearly double the rate of that performed by other providers.
The ACR argues that government regulation is needed to address financially driven self-referral and contends that MRI, CT, positron emission tomography and radiation therapy procedures are not ancillary services. Further, the ACR argues that CMS should remove such services from the “in-office ancillary exception” to federal law, which allows providers to refer patients to in-office ancillary services in which they hold a financial interest.
Read the ACR release on the GAO study on physician self-referral.
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