CardioVascular Coalition Marks PAD Awareness Month by Urging CMS to Adopt Medicare Payment Reforms Protecting Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease

Washington, D.C. — September is PAD Awareness Month, and the CardioVascular Coalition (CVC) is marking the occasion by calling on Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to adopt two key reforms: creation of a new Office-Based Facility (OBF) fee schedule, and removal of the Indirect Practice Cost Index (IPCI) from indirect practice expense calculations.

During PAD Awareness Month, it is a time to reflect on the over 12 million Americans impacted by PAD, and the severe economic implications for healthcare costs associated with PAD, with annual costs exceeding over $21 billion. Additional data shows that patients who undergo amputations experience five-year mortality rates comparable to cancer, with approximately 45% mortality following foot-level amputation and over 60% following more proximal amputations. Data also shows that the rate of individuals affected by PAD, is disproportionately higher amongst Black Americans. We must ensure that patients have access to vascular care, which is shown to improve quality of life, reduce care costs, and prevent limb loss.

Years of inadequate Medicare payment updates and a Physician Fee Schedule that was never designed to fund the advanced equipment and technical infrastructure now required for office-based procedural care have placed increasing financial strain on outpatient physician practices, making it harder for patients with PAD to get the care they need close to home. 

“PAD Awareness Month is a critical opportunity to spotlight a disease that takes limbs and lives every day, often without warning,” said CVC Chairman David Rasmussen. “The burden falls hardest on people of color and rural populations, who face the highest amputation rates in the country. Office-based vascular labs have become a vital access point for these patients, and years of cuts to the Physician Fee Schedule are putting that access at risk." This September, the CVC is calling on Congress and CMS to adopt a new Office-Based Facility fee schedule and to remove the Indirect Practice Cost Index from the Physician Fee Schedule. These reforms are essential to preventing further instability and protecting patient access to revascularization services that are proven to prevent amputation and reduce costs.

Rasmussen continued, “Raising awareness about PAD means more than education, it means action. Congress and CMS must adopt these proposals to ensure the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reflects the true cost of delivering office-based limb salvage care, so that patients don't lose access to the providers keeping them out of the operating room.”

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