Todd Scarbrough, Radiation Oncologist at Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center, shared a post on X:
“ON THIS DAY IN Radiation Oncology History Sept 23, 2013
ASTRO via ABIM Foundation releases its Choosing Wisely stating don’t routinely use IMRT for whole breast irradiation.
Reimbursement for IMRT (CPT 77418) in 2013: ~$400/tx
If not using IMRT, the whole breast irradiation CPT would have been 77412: ~$250/tx
In other words, per ASTRO, in 2013: don’t bill ~$400/tx for whole breast irradiation, bill ~$250/tx instead.
In 2022, breast IMRT Choosing Wisely got canceled (unlike Kimmel, it didn’t get reinstated)
Now…
ASTRO advocating for radiation oncology to bill ~$600/tx(!) for whole breast irradiation (regardless IMRT or not) Quite a turnabout.
2013:
Get paid ~$250/tx for whole breast irradiation (“improved outcomes do not require the costliest [IMRT ~$400] treatment”
Title: Adoption of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy For Early-Stage Breast Cancer From 2004 Through 2011.
Authors: Elyn H. Wang, Sarah S. Mougalian, Pamela R. Soulos, Benjamin D. Smith, Bruce G. Haffty, Cary P. Gross, James B. Yu
Read the full article on International Journal of Radiation Oncology.
2026: Get paid ~$600/tx for whole breast irradiation…
Welcome to the era of “Choosing Wiselier”.
FINIS.”
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