Cardio Payment Changes

Steve Blades, president of the Cardiovascular Outpatient Center Alliance, says his membership is concerned about proposed Medicare reimbursement changes that he says will force the closure of many outpatient cardiac cath labs and result in long wait times for Medicare beneficiaries. Under proposed changes from CMS, reimbursement for cardiac catheterization procedures performed in non-hospital outpatient labs would be reduced 47% by 2010, meaning non-hospital cath labs would receive reimbursements several hundred dollars below the cost of performing the procedure.