Within the March 2005 MedPAC report, the topic of the rapid growth related to Medicare spending for imaging services was addressed within Chapter 3, entitled, "Issues In Physician Payment Policy."

The MedPAC report outlined several factors as justification for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)' future setting of standards for physicians who bill Medicare for the professional component of imaging studies:

• advances in imaging technology that have made it possible to provide services in non-hospital settings;
• the migration of imaging from hospitals, which establish criteria for who may interpret studies, to non-facility settings, where there are often no such rules;
• rapid growth in physician fee schedule spending for imaging services; and
• variations in the quality of physician interpretations and reports, which can affect treatment decisions.

MEDPAC RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS: March 2005 Reports

3A The Secretary should use Medicare claims data to measure fee-for-service physicians' resource use and share results with physicians confidentially to educate them about how they compare with aggregated peer performance. The Congress should direct the Secretary to perform this function.

COMMISSIONER VOTES: YES 16 . NO 0 . NOT VOTING 0 . ABSENT 1
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3B The Secretary should improve Medicare's coding edits that detect unbundled diagnostic imaging services and reduce the technical component payment for multiple imaging services performed on contiguous body parts.

COMMISSIONER VOTES: YES 16 . NO 0 . NOT VOTING 0 . ABSENT 1
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3C The Congress should direct the Secretary to set standards for physicians who bill Medicare for interpreting diagnostic imaging studies. The Secretary should select private organizations to administer the standards.

COMMISSIONER VOTES: YES 16 . NO 0 . NOT VOTING 0 . ABSENT 1
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3D The Congress should direct the Secretary to set standards for all providers who bill Medicare for performing diagnostic imaging studies. The Secretary should select private organizations to administer the standards.

COMMISSIONER VOTES: YES 16 . NO 0 . NOT VOTING 0 . ABSENT 1
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3E The Secretary should include nuclear medicine and PET procedures as designated health services under the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act.

COMMISSIONER VOTES: YES 16 . NO 0 . NOT VOTING 0 . ABSENT 1
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3F The Secretary should expand the definition of physician ownership in the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act to include interests in an entity that derives a substantial proportion of its revenue from a provider of designated health services.

COMMISSIONER VOTES: YES 16 . NO 0 . NOT VOTING 0 . ABSENT 1