September 2006 | Vol. 24, No. 9

Deficit Reduction Act (DRA)

We need your help! Now is the time!

As you know, the Deficit Reduction Act ("DRA") passed by Congress earlier this year, will impose drastic reductions in reimbursement for noninvasive vascular services that will take effect in January 1, 2007. Since February, SVU has been working actively on both legislative and regulatory solutions regarding the proposed DRA reductions that we feel may not be survivable for some providers. Many of our loyal members have asked what they can do to help assist us in fighting these cuts and the time has come that we need your help. There has been legislation —"The Access to Medical Imaging Act" — introduced in both the House (H.R. 5704) and Senate (S. 3795) that would delay implementation of this law. Both bills are strongly supported by the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC), of which SVU is an active participant. The AMIC represents more than 75,000 physicians, providers and patients, as well as medical imaging manufacturers. (See www.imagingaccess.org for more information on the Coalition.)

Status of H.R. 5704 and S. 3795 DRA Bills in Congress

U.S. Representative Joe Pitts (R-PA) on June 28, 2006 introduced the Access to Medical Imaging Act (H.R. 5704) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill calls for a two-year "budget neutral" moratorium on the drastic cuts in payments for Medicare medical imaging services included in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005. The bill also calls for a comprehensive Government Accountability Office (GAO) study to analyze the impact of the DRA's payment methodology on patient access and service issues relating to the availability and quality of imaging services in physician offices and freestanding vascular labs, with special attention to rural and medically underserved areas.

Currently there are 68 cosponsors of H.R. 5704. To find out if your U.S. Representative is a co-sponsor of H.R. 5704, go to http://thomas.loc.gov website and enter the Bill number (H.R. 5704) in the box, click on Bill number, and then click on Search. When the House Bill comes up, click on Bill Summary & Status and then click on cosponsors to see the alphabetical list of the current House or Representative cosponsors.

A companion Access to Medical Imaging Act Bill (S. 3795) was introduced on August 3 in the Senate by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR). Currently there are 7 cosponsors of S. 3795. To find out if your U.S. Senator is a co-sponsor of S. 3795, go to http://thomas.loc.gov website and enter the Bill number (S. 3795) in the box, click on Bill number, and then click on Search. When the Senate Bill comes up, click on Bill Summary & Status and then click on cosponsors to see the alphabetical list of the current Senate cosponsors.

We need you to voice your support of these Bills! Please contact now your U.S. Representative and both U.S. Senators from your state and urge them to sign on as a cosponsor of either H.R. 5704 or S. 3795 if they have not yet done so. Timing is critical. The House leadership will soon be doing a whip count (meaning literally a head count) of how many Members are interested in this issue and support the AMIC legislation. While this effort is focused on the House, there is no harm in having letters sent to the Senate as well. Vist the SVU Advocacy News page to find three example letters from which you can base your own, one from a vascular technologist, one from a physician, and one for Medicare beneficiaries (if offices or IDTFs want to get their patients involved).

VERY IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT YOUR LETTERS!

1. It is CRITICAL that the letters have their own individual flavor (so they don't all look the same). Do not send the sample letter exactly as written, please write your personal letter so that it includes your personal thoughts on this issue and what it means for your vascular lab!
2. It is also very important to be thoughtful and respectful - angry letters don't carry much weight!
3. Hundreds of letters can actually be counterproductive so we will attempt to track these letters and will notify you through SVU Member Alerts when we reach a reasonable number to each Member of Congress. We would like a dozen or two good letters to each Member.
4. Fax is the preferable method to contact your respective Representatives and Senators. Their office fax number is available on their respective web pages. Go to www.house.gov and/or www.senate.gov and follow the links to find the website page of your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators that will have their office fax number.
5. In addition, please notify the SVU national office via email at DRAletters@svunet.org to which Representative and Senator who you have sent a letter to by fax and attach, if possible, to your email a copy of any letters you sent to Congress.

The AMIC said in a press release on the introduction of H.R. 5704 that these DRA cuts were enacted by Congress without any research or substantive background, or without the normal process of hearings to allow members of the committees of jurisdiction the opportunity to assess the comments from patients, their doctors, researchers and other experts on health care delivery. The AMIC looks forward to working with all Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to find workable options that balance fiscal common sense with patient access.

If this new Access to Medical Imaging legislation is passed by Congress this year and signed by the President, the DRA cuts would be delayed for two years, but subsequent legislative action would be required by Congress to permanently reverse those cuts. If the legislation is not approved by Congress, CMS retains the authority to adjust reimbursement rates to soften the blow to the medical imaging community and thus ensure patient access. SVU will continue to work actively both on legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts regarding the proposed DRA reimbursement cuts for vascular ultrasound studies.

Thank you for your assistance and support of SVU.

Bill Schroedter

Chair, SVU Government Relations