SOME DOCTORS CUTTING BACK ON IMAGING DEVICE PURCHASES DUE TO PROPOSED CUTS

Some doctors are buying fewer medical devices because of planned cuts to Medicare reimbursements for certain medical imaging services. The cuts are slated to start in January 2007.

A provision added to the 2006 Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) in January would reduce payments and implement caps for services such as X-rays and ultrasound and nuclear medicine, although they would not affect diagnostic and screening mammography.

Some doctors are already cutting back on new and upgraded equipment purchases. "We have basically put a freeze on new purchases of diagnostic equipment," said Alan Kaye, president of Advanced Radiology Consultants, Fairfield County, Conn.

Kaye's company has:Canceled an order for a multi-slice CT scanner; Postponed upgrades for three MRI scanners; Postponed replacing three ultrasound units; and Put a hold on purchases of additional computed and digital radiography units.

"It's not only services covered in the DRA cuts we are re-evaluating," because doctors generally use the more profitable services to subsidize the less profitable ones, Kaye noted. This means that, beyond services directly affected by the cuts, "there will be a domino effect" on other services, he said. (http://www.fdanews.com/ddl/33_29/)