AHRA hosts stakeholders from imaging societies, vendors to discuss AUC requirements

AHRA, the Association for Medical Imaging Management, hosted representatives from numerous imaging societies and vendors on Feb. 20 to brainstorm recommendations on implementing CMS’s upcoming requirement that ordering physicians must consult clinical decision support/appropriate use criteria (AUC) when ordering certain advanced imaging services.

“Shortly after CMS announced in late 2017 that they would not pursue their original implementation plan and would reach out to the stakeholder community for more input, the AHRA Regulatory Affairs Committee contacted CMS about how best to develop new AUC implementation ideas,” Jay Mazurowski, AHRA deputy executive director, said in a prepared statement. “Rather than continuing to develop ideas in isolation, AHRA felt it might be more productive to bring as many stakeholders together as possible to learn more about their role in this process and what they needed to fulfill their obligations.”

Representatives from AHRA, CMS, the American College of Radiology, X12, the National Uniform Billing Committee, e-Ordering Coalition and numerous vendors all participated in the gathering of stakeholders.

Sheila M. Sferrella, chair of AHRA’s regulatory affairs committee, organized the event. “AHRA was pleased to bring this diverse group of stakeholders together for this important conversation,” Sferrella said in the same statement. “As we were looking at the various comments submitted in response to the initial CMS proposed AUC guidelines for implementing the AUC policy, it became quite clear that each of the various stakeholders were developing ideas and proposals that met their unique needs, but these often conflicted with the needs of other downstream stakeholders.”