Dispatches April 2024

• Federal Agencies Launch Joint Inquiry into Private Equity in Healthcare
  
• HPI Researchers Identify ‘Hidden’ Interventional Radiologists in Data
  
• New Legislation Offers Partial Relief in Medicare Reimbursement for Radiology 
  
• Recognize Your ACR Peers for Their Outstanding Work
  
• Apply for Goldberg-Reeder Resident Travel Grant 
  
• New Library Highlights Core Privileging for Image-Guided Procedures
  
• 2025 ACRF Global Humanitarian Award Application Open
  
• ACR Urges Members to Take AMA Survey to Update Accurate Practice Costs
  
• Register for the Medical Student Section Virtual Research Fair

Federal Agencies Launch Joint Inquiry into Private Equity in Healthcare

With private equity and radiology increasingly occupying the same conversations around the future of the specialty’s landscape, the trending equity-backed business model has come under scrutiny from federal regulators who want to keep an eye on corporate interests in healthcare. Three federal government agencies announced a joint inquiry March 5 into what a press release called “private-equity and other corporations’ increasing control over healthcare.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and HHS jointly launched the cross-government inquiry “to understand how certain healthcare market transactions may increase consolidation and generate profits for firms while threatening patients’ health, workers’ safety, quality of care, and affordable healthcare for patients and taxpayers,” the FTC press release said. The agencies are asking for public comment no later than May 6, 2024. 

Read the formal request for information and browse all comments. 

HPI Researchers Identify ‘Hidden’ Interventional Radiologists in Data

A new study by the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute^® (NHPI), in partnership with the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), found that 76% of interventional radiologists using a new research method were mislabeled as diagnostic radiologist in Medicare data. That means IRs are largely unidentifiable in healthcare claims data, which is important because it is used for population health and health-services research, according to an NHPI press release.

“This gap hinders researchers’ ability to study the value of interventional radiology in healthcare at a population scale,” says one of the study’s authors, C. Matthew Hawkins, MD, professor of radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University School of Medicine.

Read the entire study in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. 

New Legislation Offers Partial Relief in Medicare Reimbursement for Radiology

President Joe Biden signed a $460 billion spending bill into law March 9 that resulted in partially scaling back the radiology Medicare pay cut that occurred on Jan. 1. The ACR reports that the bill eliminated 1.68% from the 3.37% cut to the Conversion Factor, leading to a Conversion Factor that’s roughly 1.69% below the 2023 number. Lawmakers were commended by imaging advocacy groups for partly addressing this concern, but they also hope for long-term Medicare payment reform.

Congress and members of the RBMA’s Radiology Patient Action Network are expected to discuss possible long-term solutions, such as tying reimbursement to an inflation index that more appropriately reflects radiology’s operating costs and exempting low-cost screening services.

Read the full article.

Recognize Your ACR Peers for Their Outstanding Work

Nominations are being accepted for three of the ACR’s highest recognitions. Recognize your peers for their notable contributions to the practice of radiology and outstanding service to the College and the profession with one of these three awards:

• The ACR Gold Medal is awarded by the BOC to an individual for extraordinary service to the ACR or to the discipline of radiology in teaching, basic research, clinical investigation or radiologic statesmanship. 
• ACR Honorary Fellows are elected by the BOC in recognition of outstanding contributions to the science or practice of radiology by individuals who — by virtue of residence, education, profession or lack of board certification — are ineligible for admission as members in any category other than international. 
• The Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded by the BOC in recognition of highly notable service to the College and the profession, or in recognition of other action or achievement that reflects in a uniquely favorable manner on the College and the profession at the national level. 

The nomination deadline is July 1. Learn more about the eligibility requirements. Nomination letters and letters of support should be emailed to awardsandhonorscommittee@acr.org and addressed to Chair, Awards and Honors Committee.

Apply for Goldberg-Reeder Resident Travel Grant

Are you an ACR member-in-training who is interested in providing volunteer service to low-to-middle-income countries? The ACR Foundation supports the Goldberg-Reeder Resident Travel Grant program, which provides travel grants to interested members-in-training seeking to serve up to a month advancing radiology in one of these countries. Read about 2023 grant recipient Darby Shuler, MD, who traveled to Nicaragua to work with a local community through One World Health.

All applications must be received no later than June 30. Apply today. For more information, contact Meredith Amos.

New Library Highlights Core Privileging for Image-Guided Procedures

To assist diagnostic and interventional radiologists in their establishment of the core privileging process, the ACR has created a Library of Core Privileging for Image-Guided Procedures, which includes an introductory guide on core privileging and sample privileging templates. Privileges to practice medicine within particular areas of specialization are granted by hospitals or healthcare systems to physicians who are appropriately credentialed, according to an introductory document in the library. Regulation of the credentialing process varies from state to state. Medical education and training and board certification are often used for both credentialing and privileging. At a given hospital or other healthcare facility, a physician may be credentialed but not privileged. 

The library provides current example documents from a wide variety of practice settings, including:

• Several large university practices
• A multispecialty clinic
• A small community/rural referral hospital

Support a rigorous privileging process in your practice and save time for both radiologists and the medical staff credential office by implementing these core privileges today.

2025 ACRF Global Humanitarian Award Application Open

The ACR Foundation’s Global Humanitarian Award recognizes outstanding individuals, organizations and programs working to improve access to and equitable delivery of quality radiological services to areas of need throughout the world. The World Health Organization estimates that half of the world’s population lacks access to radiological services.

Deserving applicants will be awarded at ACR 2025 in Washington, D.C. Awards are given in three categories: individuals, organizations (including nonprofit and industry groups) and non-radiologists (including medical physicists, radiologic technologists, ultrasonographers and other radiological personnel). 

Apply here. The application deadline is Aug. 31, 2024. 

Questions? Contact Meredith Amos.

ACR Urges Members to Take AMA Survey to Update Accurate Practice Costs

The AMA has teamed up with Mathematica to gain information regarding practice costs for all specialties through the Physician Practice Cost Information Survey (PPIS). The College urges members to participate in the survey to help provide updated accurate practice costs that are representative of radiology. Additionally, the ACR wants to make College members aware of a separate survey for practice administrators and encourages these administrators to complete the survey.

To read the full ACR press release, visit the ACR website. For more information, contact Stephanie Le, ACR director of economics and health policy. 

Register for the Medical Student Section Virtual Research Fair

Join the ACR Medical Student Section for the second annual Virtual Research Fair on June 1, 2024, from noon to 2:30pm ET. Medical students will present and discuss their ongoing and published projects (research, clinical cases, entrepreneurial ventures, and art) that inspire them to pursue a career in radiology. 

Register here. To submit research or other work for consideration, complete this form by the deadline, which is April 28.