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September 6, 2013 CONGRESS ASTRO Applauds Self-Referral Legislation Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) recently unveiled the "Promoting Integrity in Medicare Act of 2013," which would close the self-referral loophole by excluding radiation therapy, anatomic pathology, advanced imaging and physical therapy from the law’s in-office ancillary services exception.  See Full Article | Back to Top Bill Introduced to Equalize Cancer Care Payment in Hospital and Physician Office Representatives Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced the Medicare Patient Access to Cancer Treatment Act (H.R. 2869), a bill that would establish Medicare payment parity for ambulatory cancer care services provided in the hospital outpatient department and the physician office setting. See Full Article | Back to Top Bill To Scrap Stark Law In-Office Ancillary Services Exception Opposed A bill to restore the original intent of the Stark Law, which would dissolve the in-office ancillary services exception, making it illegal for physicians to refer Medicare patients for services in which there is a financial interest, has some in the medical community concerned about both the financial and patient impact. See Full Article | Back to Top MEDICARE CMS Seeks To Reverse Congress’ Cut To Gamma Knife Pay The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking steps to reverse a controversial reduction in reimbursement for Cobalt-60 (Gamma Knife) brain cancer radiosurgery as part of a Congressional "physician payment fix" offset wrapped into the January 2013 fiscal cliff deal. See Full Article | Back to Top CMS Proposes Packaging Ancillary Services under HOPPS The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed packaging seven new categories of supporting items and services in payments for primary services, according to the 2014 proposed rule for hospital outpatient services and ambulatory surgical centers released on July 8th. See Full Article | Back to Top GAO Report on Higher Use of Costly Prostate Cancer Treatment by Providers Who Self-Refer On August 1, Congress released an investigative report on self-referral in radiation oncology. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report "Medicare: Higher Use of Costly Prostate Cancer Treatment by Providers Who Self-Refer Warrants Scrutiny" concludes that providers substantially increased the percentage of their prostate cancer patients they referred for IMRT after they began to self-refer. See Full Article | Back to Top |
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