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Disproportionate impact to rural areas if Medicare rule includes proposed cuts to cardiac tests -- The clock is ticking for tens of thousands of heart patients in rural America as a looming federal government decision that is only days away could take away their access to quality cardiac care.

The clock is ticking for tens of thousands of heart patients in rural America as a looming federal government decision that is only days away could take away their access to quality cardiac care.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expected to finalize regulations as early as Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, that could cause the outright closure of many rural cardiac clinics, forcing many Americans living outside city centers to travel great distances to get the care they need and deserve.

Phillips, a founding member of the Guarding Hearts Alliance, a group of 23,000 cardiologists fighting Washington over proposed Medicare cutbacks that ultimately would restrict access to cardiac care, is not alone. Hundreds of practices could be affected.

The cardiac care cutbacks are based on highly questionable data gathered in 2006 via a statistically invalid survey that used data from only 55 cardiologists--the equivalent of only one quarter of 1 percent of the nation's cardiologists. The proposed Medicare rule was released in July, and if finalized in its current form by the Nov. 1 deadline it would take an act of Congress to overturn the regulations.

This means many cardiologists, especially those who already run rural outreach clinics at a fiscal loss, may have to stop providing diagnostic testing in outlying areas; and in some cases may be forced to close rural offices completely. Patients then may need to obtain diagnostic tests at hospitals, resulting in many rural patients facing long-distance travel, out-of-pocket costs that are as much as five times higher than in-office co-pays and wait times for tests and test results that will take days, not hours as currently is the case when obtained in the cardiologist's office.

About the Guarding Hearts Alliance

The Guarding Hearts Alliance is a partnership representing more than 23,000 cardiologists across the country, all of whom are strongly in favor of Medicare regulations and health care reform initiatives that put patients first in preserving access to quality cardiac care.

Source: Guarding Hearts Alliance

You can discuss more about Cardiology and related topics in our Cardiology group.