Healthcare stakeholders throughout U.S. medicine, including radiology leaders, aren’t waiting for the ink to dry before speaking their minds.

The unfolding scenario is packing some serious threats to the livelihoods of the unprepared.   

Described as “disastrous” and “ominous,” the proposed cuts have been subject to rampant industry-wide backlash, with some cautioning that, if enacted, the reductions could cause “immediate financial instability” in the Medicare physician payment system. 

Prior to the Dec. 15 announcement, CMS had released a different statement in June informing the public that they were reconsidering the amount of PET scans that Alzheimer’s patients undergoing monoclonal antibody treatment can receive.

Remote radiology is not without its formidable challenges. A longtime veteran of the model discussed a number of these in a session at RSNA 2022.

A U.K. radiologist has received a six-month suspension for taking pay on unworked hours back in 2012 and 2013.

Hospitals are rich and poised to get richer while independent physicians and groups continue to take it on the chin, facing ever more onerous pressures to consolidate under the headship of large hospitals, health systems or for-profit practice management companies.

The American College of Radiology is offering an initial appraisal of the rates CMS will pay next year for outpatient radiology and radiation oncology services through the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System.