HCFA relents on outpatient rate cuts

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) appears to have stepped back from its plan to cut Medicare payments for outpatient medical imaging procedures. In the Nov. 2 Federal Register, the agency published its decision to maintain current payment levels through 1999 for the technical component of imaging exams. The agency had proposed a 24% reduction in reimbursement for the technical component (SCAN 10/28/98). The agency’s decision was hailed as a victory by the National Coalition for Quality Diagnostic Imaging Services, which said it lobbied against the proposed cuts and presented HCFA with data that indicated that the actual cost of running an imaging center was far higher than HCFA’s estimates.