Medicare Cutbacks Threaten to Put Cardiac Care Out of Reach for Millions of Rural...(ginning in January 2010 reimbursement ra...),Health

This means many cardiologists, especially those in rural areas, will have to stop using these tools and instead send their patients to get these tests at hospitals. Many rural patients will face long distance travel to hospitals, out-of-pocket costs that are as much as five times higher than in-office co-pays and wait times for tests and test results that will take days, not hours as currently is the case when obtained in the cardiologist's office.

Guarding Hearts Alliance is fighting Washington over the proposal, which is based on questionable data gathered in 2006 via a statistically invalid survey that used data from only 55 cardiologists--the equivalent of only one quarter of 1 percent of the nation's cardiologists.

Member cardiologists of Guarding Hearts Alliance will converge in Washington, D.C., October 13-14 to plead with Congress to do the right thing for patients and not restrict access to cardiac care by interceding on implementing the Medicare regulations.

Media interested in speaking to a cardiologist and patients about the measure should contact Margo Burrage at 734.878.2108.

Patients concerned about being lost in this debate should sign up to join the cause at www.GuardingHeartsAlliance.org. Their voices will be heard clearly in October, when the alliance travels to Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers about issues that could have significantly adverse eff
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