Radiology bill is costly

On Monday (Dec. 5) in The Spokesman-Review, The American College of Radiology ran a full-page ad urging us all to thank Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for co-sponsoring H.R. 3269, the Diagnostic Imaging Services Access Protection Act of 2011.

The intent of the legislation is to prevent Medicare from saving a little money by, according to The American College of Radiology, “(imposing) a 25 percent payment reduction to the professional interpretation of advanced diagnostic imaging services for multiple imaging studies administered to the same patient, by physicians in the same practice setting, on the same day.”

In other words, Medicare wants a price break on the reading of an X-ray that is passed from doctor to doctor in a single office. The radiologists and McMorris Rodgers want every doctor who takes a look to be able to charge Medicare full price.

The only “access protection” the bill provides is doctors’ access to taxpayers’ money. The hypocrisy of the ad and of McMorris Rodgers is enough to make you sick.

Philip Weller

Spokane