December 24, 2009

The Senate passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590) on December 24, 2009, and included as part of that legislation a two year fix of the payment cuts to DXA services performed in the physician's office. If the provision remains in the final bill signed by the President, payment rates will be set at 70 percent of the 2006 level (approximately $97) for 2010 and 2011.

As the Society has been reporting since early 2007, a group of specialty societies have been actively working with members of Congress, including Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Representatives Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Michael Burgess (R-TX), to identify a solution to the payment cuts that have lowered payment rates by over 65 percent since 2007. The Society has been aggressively working to identify a solution to these payment cuts to support its members who provide this vital test to patients in their offices. Earlier this year, the Society worked with the National Osteoporosis Foundation to identify a sponsor in the Senate. Since that time, the coalition has been building support on Capitol Hill for the legislation, which ultimately led to Senator Lincoln's inclusion of the language in the health reform legislation developed by the Senate Finance Committee.

For questions about the Society's efforts to address the DXA payment cuts, please contact Stephanie Kutler, Director of Government Affairs, at skutler@endo-society.org.