AICC MEETS WITH CMS
On September 14th, 2009, an AICC delegation met with senior personnel of CMS's Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group, the CMS office responsible for the MPFS. Representing AICC were AICC Chairman Deepak A. Kapoor, Chairman and CEO of Integrated Medical Professionals, PLLC, Vice Chairman Juan Reyna, President and CEO of Urology San Antonio, Joseph Dankoff of Physician's Urology in Akron, Ohio, and Shawn Zimberg, Director of Radiation Oncology at Advanced Radiation Centers of New York.
The interaction with CMS was well received, with active dialog between agency representatives and AICC physicians and counsel. We conveyed our concerns regarding the statutory issues relating to the 2010 MPFS, and discussed in great detail the national impact of these cuts on patient care. Although CMS does not reveal in such meetings whether there will be changes in the final rule, the interaction was positive and we left the meeting believing that the issue regarding machine utilization for radiation oncology was far from settled and that CMS was taking a very close look at this part of its proposal.
In fact, when CMS published the final rule for the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule ("MPFS") on October 30, 2009, CMS did not implement the changes in utilization rate assumption for radiation therapy equipment.
To read more about the final rule for the 2010 MPFS and the great victory achieved for our patients,
click here.
