RBMA Advocates Radiology-Specific Objectives In Meaningful Use

Lena Kauffman | | Radiology Business | Business Intelligence
Radiology-specific objectives and measures should be incorporated into Meaningful Use requirements, stipulates a position paper approved by the Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) at its June board meeting in New Orleans. The paper details Meaningful Use-related challenges for radiologists, including:
  • The unlikelihood that most RIS/PACS products meet the regulatory definition of “certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.”
  • The pursuit, by many hospitals, of eligible hospital (EH) certification without regard to the needs of their eligible professionals (EPs).
  • The fact that the vast majority of core- and menu-set objectives and clinical quality measures, as currently written, are not relevant to the specialty of radiology.
Also outlined in the paper are RBMA’s recommendations for modifying Meaningful Use criteria and requirements. Among these recommendations, the association advocates:
  • Removing the comprehensiveness requirement so that technology can be certified only for the objectives with which EPs must comply. This would eliminate the need for the technical functionality for objectives from which EPs are excluded. The e-prescribing function would constitute one example for the majority of radiologists, the paper’s authors note.
  • Requiring hospitals to certify for general, inpatient, and—rather than or--ambulatory criteria. This would allow EPs to use an eligible hospital’s certified EHR technology in order to qualify for Meaningful Use.
  • Including radiology-specific objectives and measures so that radiologists may qualify for the funds in a way that is clinically relevant to their unique role in patient care.
“Unless the Meaningful Use program is constructed in a manner that is consistent with the above recommendations, compliance would be difficult and unduly burdensome,” the authors conclude. “Consequently radiologists and other specialists should not be subject to payment penalties starting in 2015.”

—Julie Ritzer Ross

Lena Kauffman,

Contributor

Lena Kauffman is a contributing writer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Related Content

Orano Med breaks ground on $265M thorium production site
Image-interpretation market scoreboard: Radiologists 72%, others 28%
Lantheus lands rights to budding radiopharmaceuticals for initial outlay of $35M
17 short-term strategies to address the national radiologist shortage
‘SR’ onboards another independent practice, its 1st in the Natural State
Analysis: Allied radiology professionals generate millions of dollars per year in indirect revenues alone

Around the web

Health Imaging
Nearly $800,000 settlement offered to family of man who died during MRI exam

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

Cardiovascular Business
Global shortage of nuclear imaging isotopes may be over

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

Cardiovascular Business
‘A huge win’: CMS significantly increases Medicare payments for cardiac CT

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.