Low Confidence in Medicare Reimbursement for Imaging

Reimbursement continues to be a growing concern as imaging directors and managers noted they have very low confidence that they will receive adequate reimbursement from Medicare for imaging.

The latest Medical Imaging Confidence Index (MICI) data showed that medical imaging managers are even more discouraged about reimbursement than this time last year, when the confidence score was 64. The confidence score for the second quarter of 2014 was 58. The index evaluated the outlooks of 158 hospital imaging directors and managers.

It's not all bad though. Managers are very confident that internal operating and staff costs will remain constant and their departments will maintain or grow as a profit center. The consensus on monthly growth in diagnostic and interventional radiology is neutral, similar to this time last year. But managers did show concern about having access to capital for imaging equipment and IT needs, a concern that they did not have one year ago.

Here are the full results for the second quarter of 2014:

What do you think?

Medical Imaging Confidence Index (MICI) was co-developed by AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management and The MarkeTech Group, owner of the imagePRO panel, launched in 2008. MICI data rely on the feedback of a statistical cohort of respondents from the imagePRO panel that accurately represent the US market hospital market by bedsize and geographic areas.

For more on the MICI, check out the FAQ here.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"13646","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-left","id":"media_crop_7553947536926","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"526","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"float: left;","title":" ","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"13647","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_588727243724","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"527","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"float: right;","title":" ","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]