FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tim Trysla
(202) 756-3420
WASHINGTON, DC - September 12, 2007 - Today, the Access to Medicare Imaging Coalition (AMIC) expressed its members’ concerns with two provisions (Sections 301 and 309) in the House passed H.R. 3162, the Children’s Health and Medicare Preservation Act.
AMIC Executive Director Tim Trysla noted that “these two provisions would amount to more steep cuts in medical imaging services - ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs and other cutting edge technologies, that help treat life-threatening diseases like cancer and heart disease.” Furthermore, these reductions are being proposed on top of the 13 billion dollars in recently implemented cuts to Medicare medical imaging services that were included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.”
Trysla added “AMIC would like to thank medical imaging’s many champions, especially Senators Jay Rockefeller, Gordon Smith and Herb Kohl and Representatives Carolyn McCarthy, Joe Pitts, Gene Green, and Frank Pallone, as they continue to spearhead efforts to urge their colleagues to reject further cuts. These policy leaders have long recognized the incredible value and hope that medical imaging brings to Medicare beneficiaries and other patients all across America. Moreover, they continue to be at the forefront of protecting access to and innovation in medical imaging services -- technology that is helping fulfill modern medicine’s promise of enabling individuals to lead longer and fuller lives.”
“AMIC,” said Trysla, “will continue to work with these and other leaders as the Senate and House discuss the CHAMP Act and other health care policies that may impact diagnostic and therapeutic medical imaging services and the patients who depend upon them.