The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) presented five procedure codes for valuation at the virtual American Medical Association (AMA)/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) meeting Oct. 6-9. The codes pertained to contrast X-ray of the knee; 3D rendering with interpretation and report; ultrasound guidance; and two codes related to fluoroscopic guidance.
William Donovan, MD, MPH, FACR, is the radiology RUC representative, and Kurt Schoppe, MD, is the alternate radiology RUC representative. Michael Booker, MD, represented radiology on the practice expense subcommittee. He also is the RUC advisor for the Radiological Society of North America. Lauren Golding, MD, is the ACR RUC advisor, and Andrew Moriarity, MD, is the ACR alternate RUC advisor.
Drs. Golding and Moriarty presented the codes on behalf of the ACR and defended our recommendations. For several codes, the ACR coordinated with the American Society of Neuroradiology and the Society of Interventional Radiology, as well as non-radiology specialties such as the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, among others.
The ACR also closely followed discussions surrounding the valuation of several new evaluation and management codes. However, discussions at the RUC are confidential and cannot be shared, and values approved at the RUC are not final.
The AMA will forward the RUC’s recommendations to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for review and potential implementation in the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. CMS may accept the RUC’s recommendations or propose their own values based on their internal review of the material.
For more information or if you have questions, please contact Stephanie Le, ACR Director of Economic Policy, at sle@acr.org.