Daschle Endorses CDS and Appropriateness Criteria

Speaking to attendees of the ACR’s second annual Radiology Leadership Institute event, former Senate Majority and Minority Leader Tom Daschle said he thought use of the ACR’s imaging utilization management system — which combines clinical decision support (CDS) with ACR appropriateness criteria — should be mandated by law. “I can’t think of a better example of redesigning and improving [health care] than the ACR imaging utilization management policy initiative,” Daschle stated. “It’s an excellent illustration of what it means to redesign and improve — including your clinical decision support tools and the appropriateness criteria that you’ve so articulately shared with members of Congress in recent months. It ought to become an enacted law because it is the kind of way in which to ensure that we’re going to maximize value and reduce cost to the taxpayer and to the country.” The ACR’s political action committee, RADPAC, recently succeeded in inserting in the sustainable growth rate (SGR) fix bill a mandate that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must study CDS. This makes Daschle’s comments well timed. It should be noted that Daschle was a paid keynote speaker at the RLI Annual Event held July 25-28 at the Kellogg School of Management on Northwestern University’s Evanston, Ill., campus. However, he could have kept his comments to his extensive political experience with health care reform. His endorsement of the use of CDS and appropriateness criteria in the ordering of medical imaging exams would support the legislative proposal to require HHS to study CDS.