The American College of Radiology (ACR) is urging radiologists to help it block $112 million in Medicare ultrasound reimbursement cuts by sending invoices to the college that reflect the actual cost of ultrasound equipment.
The college will then forward the information to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the hope that the agency will correct what ACR calls its "inaccurate understanding" of practice expenses for equipment and supply pricing for ultrasound and vascular ultrasound rooms, the ACR said.
The college worked with the Ultrasound Access Coalition (UAC) to convince CMS to delay the cuts, which were to take effect on January 1, 2019. But unless CMS receives correct information about the cost of providing ultrasound services, the cuts could go into effect in 2020.
"Our efforts to educate CMS on the true cost of providing these services and the adverse impact of such cuts on access to care will be ineffective if radiologists, radiology business managers, and other ultrasound providers do not supply recent invoices," said CEO Dr. William Thorwarth Jr. in a statement released by the ACR.
Invoices may be sent to [email protected].
