ASTRO applauds Maryland's ruling to uphold patient choice

(Media-Newswire.com) - The American Society for Radiation Oncology ( ASTRO ) is very pleased with yesterday's ruling by the Maryland Court of Appeals preserving strong patient protections against abusive physician self-referral in radiation therapy and advanced diagnostic imaging.

"Today's ruling represents a victory for patients in Maryland. We hope this decision will jump start congressional action to ensure that all Americans can make independent treatment decisions based on quality care, not perverse financial incentives," Laura I. Thevenot, ASTRO CEO, said.

ASTRO believes it is wrong to create business enterprises centered on rewarding physicians for making referrals, yet we are increasingly seeing business ventures designed to generate additional revenues within a group practice by incorporating radiation therapy. We believe these arrangements, allowed by the federal self-referral law's "in-office ancillary services exception" erode patient choice and can result in dramatic increases in one form of radiation therapy, while the use of other clinically appropriate, significantly less expensive treatments, such as radiation seed implants or even "watchful waiting," have declined or disappeared. This may also lead to unnecessary Medicare spending. ASTRO's position is that radiation therapy should be removed from the law's exception, unless provided by a robust multispecialty clinic.

source: Media Newswire