July 22, 2020

ACR Urges CMS to Delay Provider Audits

The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) strongly urges the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to delay provider audits until 90 days after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency expires. Particularly given the COVID-19 resurgence in many areas of the country, the ACR also advises CMS to seek input from providers before resuming provider audits. Restarting provider audits now will increase the administrative burden on personnel and practices at a time when sites are rightly focused on protecting patient safety, ensuring access to lifesaving radiology services, and restoring non-urgent, but necessary care delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic. PPE shortages affecting areas such as interventional radiology, reorganization of radiology practices to aid front line care in affiliated hospitals and a shift to greater telemedicine/teleradiology service has disrupted nearly all radiology practices. Many sites are only now reopening — or are operating with reduced staffing — after complying with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidance to suspend non-urgent care at the outset of the pandemic. This is not the time to resume provider audits. The ACR looks forward to working with CMS to address this issue.