Original articleThe Disproportionate Effects of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 on Radiologists' Private Office MRI and CT Practices Compared With Those of Other Physicians
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
We used the Medicare Part B Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary Master Files (PSPSMFs) for 2002 through 2007. These files cover the nearly 37 million beneficiaries who are enrolled in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. They provide information on all procedure codes in the Current Procedural Terminology®, fourth edition, manual. For each code each year, the files show the number of procedures performed, Part B payments made, the specialties of the physician providers, and other
Results
The Medicare office MRI volume trends among radiologists, all other nonradiologist physicians as a group, and IDTFs are shown in Table 1. Between 2002 and 2006, radiologists' MRI compound annual volume growth rate in offices was 8.4%, compared with 24.8% among nonradiologist physicians. During 2007, the first year the DRA was in effect, MRI office volume dropped by 2.0% among radiologists, but it increased by 7.6% among nonradiologist physicians. The corresponding payment data are shown in
Discussion
The data in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 indicate that radiologists perform the majority of in-office MRI and CT scans and receive the majority of the Medicare Part B payments for them. However, between 2002 and 2006, the annual volume growth rates in both modalities among nonradiologist physicians were almost triple those among radiologists. Annual payment growth rates among nonradiologists were more than double those among radiologists.
The year 2007, the first year in which the DRA was
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This study was supported in part by a grant from the American College of Radiology (Reston, Va).