Cardiologists warn Biden administration that new policies could put PAD patients at risk
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) and Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) have sent a new letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) detailing how recently proposed changes could be damaging for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). The proposals would be especially harmful to Black patients, the organizations wrote, due to PAD being more prevalent among that patient population.
The CMS proposals in question would update the HCC codes for diagnosing and managing PAD. These changes could potentially limit clinicians from evaluating patients for PAD when it is in its earliest stages, limiting their ability to identify the disease when there is still plenty of time to treat and achieve positive outcomes.
“Better strategies and policies are necessary to address the disparities in care and outcomes for those with PAD,” the groups wrote. “Limiting risk adjustment to only the most advanced stages of PAD is a step in the wrong direction.”
The letter to CMS also detailed the many ways that PAD outcomes are worse for different minority groups throughout the United States. PAD is 37% more common among Black patients, for instance, and they are also more likely to develop asymptomatic PAD.
“African Americans are three times more likely than the rest of Americans to lose limbs to amputation,” the groups added. “Native Americans experience double the risk of a non-traumatic limb amputation. Hispanics are 75% more likely to experience amputation. Medical literature has consistently concluded that unmanaged PAD is associated with a high rate of mortality and severe consequences (including heart attack, stroke and amputation).”
The groups concluded by asking CMS to reconsider its proposals. If changes are truly necessary, they noted, perhaps those changes can at least be scaled back so that patients are still able to receive the care they need, when they need it.
The letter to CMS was signed by ABC PAD Initiative Co-Chair Foluso Fakorede, MD, and SCAI Government Relations Chair Lyndon Box, MD.
Read it in full here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.