France's national union of independent radiologists (Fédération nationale de médecins radiologues, FNMR) has again voiced its anger over the proposed changes to reimbursement policy.
Negotiation does not mean simply accepting any conditions, according to an FNMR statement issued today following comments made at the Senate by Mrs. Marisol Touraine, France's minister of Social Affairs and Public Health during examination of article 52 bis (amendment 762) of the draft bill for the 2017 social security budget (PLFSS 2017).
According to the FNMR, the amendment gives full power to the directorate general of the national medical insurance fund for salaried workers (Caisse nationale d'assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés, CNAMTS), for fixing the prices of CT, MRI, and PET.
The minister criticised the removal of the article, as demanded by the FNMR, and reportedly stated the government is against any deletions of proposals in its draft bill because there are at present no negotiations with radiologists.
"While there were negotiations with radiologists about technical tariffs, these negotiations failed," Touraine reportedly stated, according to the FNMR press release.
The FNMR underlined that negotiations on imaging techniques have been taking place for more than a year and it has developed and pursued several proposals in order to try and settle the matter. However, FNMR believes the position of CNAMTS has remained the same; notably that the insurance fund is demanding the same level of savings today as it did at the start of the negotiation process. The FNMR sent a new proposal on 3 November which so far has generated no response.
"The CNAMTS must take the limitations of medical clinics into consideration (after seven years of budget cuts and two multiannual economic plans signed by the FNMR) as well as the situation of hospital imaging services. These services will be heavily impacted by new cuts in the technical tariffs because half of their activity is undertaken for outpatients and reimbursed by the CNAMTS, in line with its tariffs," the FNMR noted.
The FNMR argued that negotiation did not equate to the FNMR simply accepting the terms and conditions imposed by the CNAMTS.
"The FNMR cannot be the only party to make compromises," the statement concluded.
