January 25, 2021

ACR Urges Senate Leaders to Confirm Becerra as HHS Secretary

The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) actively supports President Biden’s choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The ACR has sent letters to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee leadership and Senate Finance Committee leadership urging them to back Becerra’s confirmation.

During his time in Congress, former Rep. Becerra worked closely with the ACR to improve the American healthcare system and protect patient access to high-quality imaging care.

He worked with the ACR to enact important legislation — including accreditation standards for facilities providing advanced medical imaging and mandatory consultation of appropriate use criteria prior to ordering advanced imaging.

The ACR looks forward to working with Mr. Becerra as we continue our longstanding dialogue with HHS, Congress and other interested stakeholders to empower radiologists, radiation oncologists and allied professionals to offer the highest quality care to those we serve.

ACR leaders particularly look forward to working with Mr. Becerra and HHS to address remaining (but scaled back) Medicare payment cuts to radiologists and over one million other medical providers due to evaluation and management coding changes that started Jan. 1.