WASHINGTON – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is being asked to convince the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to spare life-saving radiation oncology services from a Medicare funding cut proposed for diagnostic imaging services.

A bipartisan letter has been sent by Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). Thirty two senators signed the letter, stating their concern over a 19 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement to the radiation oncology specialty contained in the CY 2010 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule, equating to cuts of up to 44 percent for certain radiation therapy treatments.

Of particular concern in the rule is a proposed policy that raises the use rate for certain medical equipment from 50 percent to 90 percent.

"Cuts of this level will most certainly cause many free-standing cancer centers to close, which will lead to longer wait times for patients and less time spent with their doctors," said Bernard W. Taylor, MD, a radiation oncologist at the Texas Oncology-Longview Cancer Center in Longview, Texas, and chairman of US Oncology's Reimbursement and Public Policy Committee.

The letter contends that radiation therapy is therapeutic and should not be included in policy aimed at concerns about volume growth in diagnostic imaging.

“Radiation therapy is not diagnostic imaging,” the letter says. “Radiation therapy is only provided to beneficiaries who have already been diagnosed with cancer. Equipment used to both treat cancers and guide the treatment is not diagnostic in nature. Instead, it is used to ensure that the dose of radiation required to kill the tumor is delivered to the tumor and not surrounding healthy tissue. We therefore urge that CMS exempt non-diagnostic imaging equipment from the proposed utilization rate assumption increase.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, radiation therapy is under-used and hindered by such barriers as travel time.

The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality has reportedly found evidence of disparities in radiation therapy use among older patients, women and African Americans, with the exception of care provided in the Veterans' Administration system.

In another study of more than 11,000 women in Florida who had undergone breast conserving surgery, the odds of receiving post-surgical radiation therapy decreased by 3 percent for every five-mile increase in the distance to the nearest radiation therapy facility.

"We understand and share policymakers' concerns in the need to make certain that payments for medical procedures are appropriate – but established scientific data should be used as a roadmap for such payment formulas, which certainly does not apply here in the case of cuts to radiation oncology services," said Leonard Kalman, MD, Chairman of US Oncology's Public Policy Steering Committee. "Cutting funding for prescribed radiation, which more than 1 million cancer patients rely upon each year in their personal fight against cancer, is quite unsettling."