Every year, the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) is updated to determine the reimbursement rates for physicians. The powers that be decide which areas require more funding and which areas need to see a decrease in reimbursement to maintain budget neutrality. However, the latest reimbursement cuts have hit the "limb savers" hard, including vascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, and interventional radiologists, who provide amputation prevention services for patients, with a circulation issue known as peripheral artery disease (PAD), in community-based clinics known as office-based labs (OBLS). P.A.D. is a circulation issue that left untreated can lead to amputation. To prevent further amputations and disruptions in patient access to care, new bipartisan legislation has been introduced to stop ongoing cuts to office-based specialists for the next two years. The Cardiovascular Coalition's Dr. Paul Gagne and Dr. Daniel Nathanson, both vascular surgeons, talk about why this new legislation is critical to save life and limb.
