WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
The U.S. government proposed payment
changes in the Medicare health insurance program on Monday that
could impact reimbursement of medical imaging, diagnostic
testing and dialysis providers.

The wide-ranging, 834-page proposal is an annual update of
how Medicare pays for the treatment of 44 million elderly and
disabled individuals in the federal health plan.

Among the changes proposed are an expansion of diagnostic
imaging services for which the government will trim payment
when multiple procedures are done on the same patient. It also
proposes no update to payment for drugs used during dialysis.

“We believe the dialysis industry will object to the sudden
change in assumption” on pricing for the drugs, said Ipsita
Smolinksi, an analyst at JP Morgan in Washington.

The major dialysis providers are DaVita Inc and Germany's
Fresenius SE. The biggest medical imaging companies are General
Electric Co, Philips and Siemens AG.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which
runs Medicare and the Medicaid program for the needy, is
expected to spend nearly $800 billion on health care services
this year.

The proposal will also likely impact payment for
free-standing radiation therapy and pathology lab tests,
according to analysts.

The government is also proposing to require doctors who
perform diagnostic tests to be subject to certain new
performance standards, as well as increasing financial
incentives for doctors to report quality measures.

“We are taking a multi-pronged approach to improve how
Medicare pays for health care services,” CMS acting
administrator Kerry Weems said in a statement.

The proposal was posted on Medicare's website at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/physicianfeesched/downloads/CMS-1403-P
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