News & Advocacy

OAR Takes Action to Support Increasing Federal Funding for Bone Density Testing

posted: September 4, 2019

OAR holds that establishing adequate federal funding for osteoporosis testing is critical in order to prevent patients from being under-diagnosed and under-treated for this debilitating and deadly disease. Providers of rheumatology know that osteoporosis is a silent disease that often does not get detected until a fracture occurs.

A bill introduced in Congress this year, the Increasing Access to Osteoporosis Testing for Medicare Beneficiaries Act (H.R. 2693/S. 283) would improve access to bone mass measurement benefits through the Medicare program. The bill would establish a national minimum Medicare payment amount for testing, including dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) testing. OAR knows that many of those at risk are not being screened due to financial constraints. Given this, we recently sent out an action alert urging members to send a letter to Congress. As of August the bill has not passed through either chamber. OAR is once again asking membership to Take Action through our website’s Action Center.

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