American Shared Hospital Services Announces Revised 2014 Gamma Knife Reimbursement Rate Following Proposal by CMS

AMERICAN SHARED HOSPITAL SERVICES

, a leading provider of turnkey technology solutions for advanced radiosurgical and radiation therapy services, announced today that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted a revision of the previously proposed rule for Medicare's hospital outpatient prospective payment system for calendar year 2014. Within this proposed rule, CMS proposes updates for the delivery codes used for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), including Gamma Knife services. On August 28, 2013, CMS revised its previously proposed delivery code rate to reimburse hospitals for a complete course of treatment comprised of a single session of SRS to $5,615, a 70% increase over the current rate. CMS, on July 8, 2013, initially proposed to reimburse hospitals at $8,576 in 2014, an increase of 160% over the current rate. Effective April 1, 2013, CMS Gamma Knife delivery code reimbursement was reduced to $3,300 from the previous rate of $7,910. This CMS proposed reimbursement rate is subject to comments from interested parties and could change. The Company intends to review data revising the rate and comment to CMS on the proposed changes. Final CMS reimbursement rates are anticipated to be issued in fall 2013.