The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) today announced their collective support for the continued bipartisan efforts to repeal the 2.3 percent medical device excise tax. Yesterday, the House passed the Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4) with a vote of 226 to [...]
On September 19th, the House voted 253-163 to approve the "Jobs for America Act," a package of bills that had already individually passed the lower chamber. The package includes a measure that would roll back the 2.3% excise tax on U.S. sales of medical devices and issue a retroactive refund to companies for payments made [...]
The 2.3% medical device excise tax raised $913 million in the first half of 2013, or about 75% of what was expected. A look at the number of filers reveals a large part of the problem. Out of an anticipation as high as 15,000 filers, only 5,107 medical device tax forms were filed. Read more [...]
Stefan M. Selig, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, said that the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Administration made history last week. Along with Bloomberg Philanthropies, he hosted the "U.S.-Africa Business Forum"—the first ever summit of its kind. The Forum brought together U.S. and African CEOs and heads of state to solidify and continue the [...]
A New York radiology practice has informed 97,000 patients that an employee had unauthorized access to their protected health information. The employee radiologist of NRAD Medical Associates accessed and acquired the information from NRAD’s billing systems; these data included patient names and addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and health insurance, diagnosis codes and [...]
Medtronic has agreed to pay nearly $43 billion to acquire Covidien, a move that will allow the Minneapolis company to shift its headquarters to Ireland and lower its tax burden. Read more here.
Senate GOP leaders on Tuesday called for a vote to kill ObamaCare’s tax on medical devices, as part of a broader package to revive tax breaks that expired at the end of last year. But the tax package is popular with members of both parties, and it’s unclear if Republicans have the leverage to win [...]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late Wednesday issued a proposed rule for 2015 that reduces payment for readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions, but provides no changes to the controversial two-midnight rule. Read more here.
Medicare code bundling of CT of the abdomen and pelvis results in a large reduction in reimbursements for imaging, according to a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology . Read more here.
The Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC) convened today and representatives from organizations such as the American College of Radiology and the Lung Cancer Alliance went before the committee to contend for national Medicare coverage of low dose CT (LDCT) screening for patients who are at a high risk for lung cancer. Read [...]