The American College of Radiology is urging its members not to ignore any recent communications from the American Medical Association.
That’s because the nation’s largest professional association and lobbying group for medical doctors is conducting a new practice survey that could have big implications for physician payment.
The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule—also used by other commercial payers—utilizes 2006 cost information to develop practice-expense relative values and resulting reimbursements. But this outdated information is leading to payment calculations that do not reflect today’s financial realities, ACR reported previously. AMA has contracted with consultancy Mathematica, which is shooting to reach 10,800 practices representing 90,000 healthcare providers for its survey.
“It is urgent for all selected physicians to actively engage in this effort,” ACR said in a recent news update to members. “These data have not been updated since last collected more than 15 years ago; it is critically important to update these data to ensure accurate payment.”
More than 170 medical societies have already endorsed the survey and process behind it. Those include ACR, the American Society of Neuroimaging, the American Society of Neuroradiology, the Association of University Radiologists, RSNA, the Radiology Business Management Association, the Society of Interventional Radiology, and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. Over the summer, the college urged anyone contacted by Mathematica to respond, highlighting direct patient care hours as a crucial component of Medicare payment methodology.
Those chosen for the survey may receive a message from ppisurvey@mathematica-mpr.com and a USPS priority mail packet from the firm, containing a survey link and supporting information.
“The ACR urges you to speak with your practice management colleagues to be on the lookout for these communications and complete this important survey,” the college said in its Oct. 17 news alert.
For more on the survey, read Radiology Business’ coverage from July.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.