The ACR presented 24 Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes for valuation at the October 2018 American Medical Association (AMA)/Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) meeting in Chicago.
The following code families were discussed:
- CT orbit/ear/fossa
- X-ray of the lower GI tract
- Urography
- Myocardial PET
- X-ray of a surgical specimen
- X-ray of the neck
- X-ray of the clavicle/shoulder
Over four days, ACR RUC Advisor Kurt Schoppe, MD and Alternate ACR RUC Advisor Daniel Wessell, MD, PhD, with Lauren Golding, MD, and Andrew Moriarity, MD, presented the codes to the RUC panel for consideration.
Ezequiel Silva III, MD, FACR, served on the panel as the radiology RUC member, and William Donovan, MD, MPH, served as the alternate RUC member. Bibb Allen Jr., MD, FACR and Andrew Rosenkrantz, MD, the new RUC advisor for the Association of University Radiologists, also attended.
For several code recommendations, the ACR collaborated with the American Society of Neuroradiology, the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, the Society of Interventional Radiology, the American Urological Association and other specialty physician societies.
Values approved at the meeting are confidential. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will review the recommendations from the RUC for implementation in the 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, but CMS is not obligated to accept them.
The ACR has begun work on the upcoming survey cycle for the January 2019 meeting. This will be an extremely short and busy cycle, consisting of approximately 60 codes for the ACR. We will begin launching surveys on a rolling basis over the next couple of weeks. We humbly ask you, as an ACR member, for help in completing the RUC surveys for the procedure(s) you perform.
Please direct any questions to Stephanie Le at sle@acr.org or 800-227-5463 Ext. 4584.