A US District Court judge in Florida has blocked the ACC’s legal effort to overturn Medicare reimbursement cuts to cardiologists. The ACC published a statement on its website and the story was covered by Andis Robeznieks in Modern Healthcare.
According to Modern Healthcare, Judge William Dimitrouleas denied the ACC’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the Medicare cuts. Further, the judge also rejected a request for expedited discovery and canceled a scheduled hearing. The setback to the ACC’s efforts occurred two weeks after the ACC filed its original suit, as covered by CardioBrief at the time.
In the statement on its website, the ACC said the College learned of the Judge’s decision “just as the ACC’s attorneys, witnesses and staff were about to board flights to Florida” for the scheduled hearing. According to the ACC, “the judge refused to hear our case on jurisdictional grounds, finding that statutory language governing the Medicare program precludes judicial review of the relative value units and the methods for determining the RVUs in the Medicare fee schedule.”
The ACC vowed to continue its battle to fight the reimbursement cuts “with CMS, Congress and, to the extent possible, the public.”
Click here to read the ACC’s statement.
Thanks to Dr Wes for calling attention to these events in his blog.
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