CMS’s proposed PFS rule: A threat to freestanding imaging payment?

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Topics: Outpatient Care, Service Lines, Imaging, Payer and Regulatory Policy, Revenue Cycle, Finance, Utilization, Efficiency, Performance Improvement

Shay Pratt 

Shay Pratt, Imaging Performance Partnership

The freestanding imaging center community is decrying an adjustment in the 2010 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule that would increase to 90% the equipment utilization factor, one element used to calculate the technical component practice expense RVUs. Currently, the equipment utilization factor is set at 50%, meaning that CMS assumes imaging scanners across providers are half full. Therefore, current RVUs for imaging services are intended to account for this unused capacity.