The American College of Radiology (ACR), Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA) and Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) issued a joint statement on new patient relationship categories and codes created under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
The MACRA legislation instructed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to create Patient Relationship Categories and Codes as a tool to more accurately attribute resource use and care episodes to clinicians who serve patients in different roles as part of the assessment of the cost of care. CMS is allowing voluntary reporting of these codes in 2018 by way of newly developed modifiers.