The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) presented seven new CPT® codes for valuation at the American Medical Association (AMA)/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee (RUC) Meeting Jan. 17–20.
Five of the codes relate to MR Safety procedures required for patients with implants prior to their MR scans, and two of the codes pertain to thyroid ablation. These codes were part of multispecialty survey efforts, from which time and value data was collected to make recommendations to the RUC. These times and values will be shared with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for consideration in the 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, expected to be released in the fall. Discussions at the RUC are confidential and cannot be shared.
Radiology was well represented at this meeting. Lauren Nicola, MD, FACR, served as the ACR RUC Advisor, William Donovan, MD, MPH, served as the radiology representative on the RUC Panel, and Michael Booker, MD, served on the Practice Expense Subcommittee. The ACR also had several guests in attendance at this meeting: Heidi Edmonson, PhD, a medical physicist from Mayo Clinic, served as the subject matter expert for the MR safety presentation; Xin Li, MD, a resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the ACR 2024 Moorefield Fellow; and Connie Lu, MD, a fourth-year resident at Cornell and Rutherford-Lavanty Fellow.
This was the last RUC meeting for Dr. Donovan, who is moving on after 17 years of service. He began his career with the RUC in 2007 as the Alternate RUC Advisor for the American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR), a role he held until 2011. In 2011, Donovan joined the AMA/RUC Panel as the Alternate Radiology Member and later transitioned to Radiology Member in 2021. Donovan’s commitment to the RUC was recognized by the AMA and his peers at a recent meeting. He has played a pivotal role in molding many of the previous — and current — ACR and ASNR RUC advisors. His dedication to the RUC and institutional knowledge of the code valuation process will be missed by his colleagues and the staff he has worked with over the years. Dr. Donovan is a practicing neuroradiologist for Midstate Radiology Associates in Connecticut. He also remains an active member of both the ASNR and ACR economics and health policy initiatives, serving on the ACR Commission on Economics, the ACR Economics Committee on Reimbursement and the ASNR Health Policy Committee. He is currently the ASNR Councilor to the ACR. He is serving a two-year term as the At-Large Member of the ASNR Board of Directors.
Kurt Schoppe, MD, is rotating off the AMA/RUC Panel as the Radiology Alternate RUC Member, a role he has held since 2021. Prior to joining the RUC Panel, Dr. Schoppe served as the ACR Alternate RUC Advisor beginning in 2013 and as the ACR RUC Advisor starting in 2016. Over the years, he has aided in training and mentoring several current RUC advisors. While he could not attend the January 2024 RUC meeting in Coronado, CA, his contributions to the RUC process and radiology reimbursement were acknowledged and recognized by his colleagues. He continues to practice with the Radiology Associates of North Texas in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex, where he has been the President of the group since 2023. A 2011 ACR Moorefield Fellow, Dr. Schoppe showed early interest and promise in the areas of health economics and reimbursement. He continues to be active within the ACR, serving on the Reimbursement Committee and as Vice Speaker of the Council, as well as the Board of Chancellors, and Executive and Budget and Finance Committees.
The ACR will begin working on surveys for the April 2024 RUC meeting over the next couple of weeks. If you receive a RUC survey from the ACR for a procedure that you perform, please complete it as soon as possible.
The AMA is continuing to promote their physician practice information survey. Radiology only has a handful of completed surveys to date. Please check with your administrators to determine if your practice received a survey. If so, please encourage them to complete it.
If you have any questions, contact Stephanie Le, ACR Director, Economic Policy.