Revenue & Reimbursement

Healthcare reimbursement is payment that a hospital, diagnostic imaging facility, subspecialty department or healthcare providers receive for performing a service. This also includes individual radiologist or cardiologist reimbursement and billing and coding rules for submitting claims.

‘Concerning’ data connect industry payments to cardiologists with medical device use
U.S. physicians often receive payments from medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. New research in JAMA found a connection between receiving such payments and using specific devices—should the industry be concerned?
Medicare reimbursement down 29% for cardiologists, 58% for heart surgeons
Physician payments are down slightly across the board, but they've fallen significantly for a handful of specialties. Researchers examined the long-term impact this trend could have on patient care.
Why the business side of cardiology was a key focus at ACC.24
Alison Bailey, MD, co-chair of the business of cardiology sessions at ACC.24, emphasized that reimbursement cuts can have a long-term negative impact on patient.
New ACC President Cathie Biga wants to improve quality reporting in cardiology
Biga, who originally trained as a nurse, specializes in the business side of cardiology. She also emphasized the increasing importance of AI and other new technologies.
New Jersey cardiologist faces up to 10 years in prison for $1.9M fraud scheme
The doctor, 76, admitted to billing multiple insurance providers for office visits that never happened at all.

The U.S. Congress is working on healthcare legislation to fix medicare reimbursements and end annual cuts to physicians.

Cardiology societies want to help Congress reform Medicare

Multiple cardiology societies, including the ACC, ASE and SCAI, want to work with Congress to update Medicare payment policies.

February 28, 2022

American Heart Association supports new ‘surprise billing’ legislation, but physician groups have serious doubts

According to the AHA, the No Surprises Act will "make a truly meaningful difference" to millions of patients. Physicians, on the other hand, have shared significant concerns about the legislation.

December 7, 2021

CMS finalizes 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule—payments to cardiologists take a hit

Also, penalties for failing to comply with the Appropriate Use Criteria program have been delayed yet again.

November 3, 2021

High‐billing cardiologists order more tests when treating AFib—but outcomes do not improve

What do these findings say about current billing policies?

October 21, 2021

Cardiologists oppose 2 key CMS proposals, warn of ‘unintended consequences’

The American College of Cardiology has published a thorough analysis of the proposed 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, making many recommendations and comments related to the future of patient care.

September 15, 2021

Cardiologists urge CMS to reconsider MPFS changes that could ‘jeopardize the delivery of care’

The American College of Cardiology and Society for Cardiovascular Angiography (SCAI) and Interventions are just two of the medical societies concerned about this proposal.

September 10, 2021

Women in cardiology receive less money from CMS, submit fewer charges

More research is still needed to find out why these differences exist, but the authors did offer some possible explanations.

September 9, 2021

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), a related organization of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), this week released a statement on the criminalization of medical errors. The APSF said criminal prosecution is unjust and counterproductive is healthcare organizations want to find ways to mitigate errors by understanding how they happen and create protocols or IT systems can can help prevent future errors. The criminal trial of nurse RaDonda Vaught was counterproductive to safety.

Interventional cardiologists back prior authorization bill, call current policies ‘costly' and ‘time consuming’

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions is the latest industry organization to show its support of the new legislation.

May 28, 2021

Around the web

Health Imaging

New imaging protocols proposed to curb rise of cardiovascular infections

Eleven medical societies have signed on to a consensus statement aimed at standardizing imaging for suspected cardiovascular infections.

Radiology Business

What does radiology have to do with climate change?

Kate Hanneman, MD, explains why many vendors and hospitals want to lower radiology's impact on the environment. "Taking steps to reduce the carbon footprint in healthcare isn’t just an opportunity," she said. "It’s also a responsibility."

Revenue & Reimbursement

‘Concerning’ data connect industry payments to cardiologists with medical device use

Medicare reimbursement down 29% for cardiologists, 58% for heart surgeons

Why the business side of cardiology was a key focus at ACC.24

New ACC President Cathie Biga wants to improve quality reporting in cardiology

New Jersey cardiologist faces up to 10 years in prison for $1.9M fraud scheme

Around the web