Some U.S. cardiologists receive millions of dollars from Medicare for performing techniques that open the peripheral arteries and veins of the arms and legs, but medical experts are questioning whether some of these treatments are necessary and many believe that drugs and exercise would be a safer form of treatment, according to The New York Times.
The New York Times analyzed 2012 billing records for the 10 top-billing U.S. cardiologists. That analysis revealed eight of those 10 physicians made about 50 percent of their reimbursements from Medicare by performing procedures that relieve the narrowing in an artery or vein in patients' arms or legs, according to the report. Top billers in the U.S. for these procedures also include "a handful of vascular surgeons and radiologists," the report reads.
This comes at the same time that payments for relieving blockages in the heart are falling, according to the report.
Physicians who do the procedures that relieve the narrowing in an artery or vein in the arms and legs claim "they are saving Medicare money by doing them outside a hospital, that they reduce the number of more serious conditions, and that the Medicare payments are justified to cover their high expenses," according to the report.
But many medical experts claim that exercise, weight loss and medication can treat most patients with peripheral artery disease, although there are extreme cases where patients are at risk for amputations, and the Society for Vascular Medicine "warns that people typically do not need invasive treatment," the report reads.
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