In 2014 the federal government enacted the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 which included a differential payment provision to diagnostic CT systems that do not meet the MITA Smart Dose CT XR-29 standard. Under the new law, payment for the technical component under the physician fee schedule (CTs received in a non-hospital setting such as imaging center or physicians' office) and the APC payment under the hospital outpatient department (CTs) conducted in the hospital outpatient department) for services rendered with equipment not consistent with the XR-29 standards will be reduced by 5 percent in 2016 and 15 percent in 2017 and subsequent years.
