government
Self-referred imaging cost Medicare $109 million in 2010
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 12, 2012
Physicians who self-refer magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography services order more scans at a much higher rate than those without a financial interest in the scans, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Oct. 31.
The GAO was asked to evaluate self-referrals for advanced imaging services in Medicare and determine any implications on program spending.
Auditors estimated those self-referred advanced imaging services resulted in 400,000 more services being ordered in 2010. The GAO determined the extra services by comparing the orders against rates of imaging services prescribed by doctors who did not self-refer. The additional services cost Medicare about $109 million more that year.
“Medicare payment policy shouldn’t incentivize unnecessary tests that drive up costs and even jeopardize the well-being of patients,” Sen. Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) said in a statement about the report. “The challenge is to develop a payment system that safeguards beneficiary access to services while preventing self-referrals by physicians who abuse the system.”
Since 2006, overall imaging use and costs are down, the American College of Radiology noted on its website following the GAO report’s release. The Medicare program spends the same amount on imaging as it did in 2003, according to the ACR.
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Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/11/12/gvbf1112.htm.
