Herbert D. Aronow, MD, reviewed the many ways the reimbursement landscape is changing thanks to new Medicare policies. “This is a really exciting time in the renal denervation space," he said. 

Boston Scientific said two category III CPT codes are set to become permanent category I codes for physician payments starting Jan. 1, 2027. 

SCAI President Srihari Naidu, MD, detailed some of the challenges interventional cardiologists face as reimbursements keep declining. The group has been building new partnerships with other medical societies to strengthen its influence in Washington. 

Starting in 2026, patients covered by UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage and commercial plans will not have care reimbursed for instances of remote patient monitoring unless they have diagnosed heart failure or are pregnant and experiencing hypertension. The shift stands at odds with traditional Medicare, which added new claims codes for providers to use next year.

“Rapidly rising healthcare costs continue to be a top concern for members and their employers," the nation's largest commercial insurer wrote in a recent letter to an unidentified imaging group. 

This enables separate reimbursement for the radionuclide diagnostic agent under the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System, manufacturer Telix says. 

Members of the specialty collect an average of about $1,845 in per-day call pay, behind only neurosurgeons ($2,045) and ahead of pathologists ($1,700). 

Even before the onset of COVID-19, data suggested that rads’ after-hours workloads had doubled in proportion to the increase in emergency department visits in the years leading up to 2020.