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February 2023 Power Hour Webinar – Don’t be Surprised by the “No Surprises Act” – Impact to Radiology Practices and What You Need to Know

Moderators: Jennifer E. Nathan, MD and Robert S. Pyatt, Jr, MD, FACR

Faculty: Josh Cooper, Howard Fleishon, MD, FACR, MMM, Tom Hoffman, CAE, JD, Greg Nicola, MD, FACR, Elizabeth Rula, PhD, and William Thorwarth Jr, MD, FACR

Description: During this webinar, experts will explain the evolution of the “No Surprise Act” (NSA). They will describe the challenges that have resulted from the enactment of this rule, how this rule impacts the patients and radiologists, what the ACR is doing to defend both radiologists and patients, and what you, as a radiologist, need to be aware of and how you can take action to help.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

Describe the evolution of the “No Surprises Act”.
Identify how this rule impact patients and radiologists.
Describe what the ACR is doing to defend both radiologists and patients.

Recorded Webinar

Webinar Slides - Howard Fleishon, MD, FACR, MMM

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Webinar Slides - Tom Hoffman, CAE, JD

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Webinar Slides - Greg Nicola, MD, FACR

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Webinar Slides - Elizabeth Rula, PhD

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Webinar Slides - William T. Thorwarth Jr, MD, FACR

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Additional Resources

There are many resources available, however, the faculty identified these optional resources to lay the foundation for learners’ basic understanding of the topic.

December 2022, Bulletin article titled “No Surprises, The ACR advocates for the patients and radiologists as it pushes back against unfair policies.”

December 2022, Bulletin article featuring guest columnist Richard Heller III, MD, FACR and his perspective on what ACR members should do, titled “Yogi, Britney, and the No Surprises Act. The government should institute the law as it was intended — to protect patients and not favor either insurance companies or doctors.”

February 2023, Zotec Answers – Podcast Series: No Surprises Act Update.
Due to continued litigation, keeping up with what’s happening with the No Surprises Act (NSA) Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process is extremely challenging. On February 6, a federal court ruled in favor of Texas Medical Association’s second lawsuit vacating the NSA final rule. CMS responded by putting a hold on all IDR payment determinations under the NSA.

Key Takeaways:
While this hold will put financial strains on physicians with pending IDRs, we hope that CMS will expedite the issuance of new rules to relieve the tremendous backlog.

There are still many aspects of the NSA IDR process that are confusing, but Ed Gaines, JD, CCP, VP of Regulatory Affairs and Industry Liaison, for Zotec Partners, uses his expertise to answer some important questions in four new Zotec Answers podcasts (each between 4-5 min)

ACR News Press Releases offer updates about the latest happenings:
- January 19, 2023, ACR Offers Plan to Improve Surprise Billing Independent Dispute Resolution Process
- February 2, 2023, Major Medical Societies Back Texas Medical Association Challenge to Flawed Qualifying Payment Amount
- February 8, 2023, Medical Societies Call TX Federal Court Surprise Billing Ruling A Victory for Patients and Providers

Moderator & Faculty Bios

Moderators
	Jennifer Nathan, MD						Robert Pyatt, Jr, MD, FACR

Faculty

Josh Cooper
Josh Cooper is Vice-President of Government Relations and Economics Health Policy. Josh has over 35 years of government affairs experience both on and off Capitol Hill, 25 of which have been spent advocating for the American College of Radiology. Josh oversees congressional advocacy, political fund raising and grassroots activities.

Howard Fleishon, MD, FACR, MMM
Howard Fleishon is from Philadelphia where he did his medical school and radiology training. He has spent the majority of his career as a clinical radiologist and practice leader in Phoenix. Howard is now a professor at Emory University. Interests during his career have centered on leadership and management in Radiology. Howard has served in a variety of roles in the College including a past Chair of the Practice Leaders Committee, and Council Speaker. He founded and was the first Chair of the Radiology Advocacy Network. Howard is the immediate past Chair Board of Chancellors and currently proudly serving as President, ACR.

Tom Hoffman, CAE, JD
Thomas R. Hoffman, JD, CAE is Vice President, Legal with the American College of Radiology in Reston, Virginia. Mr. Hoffman counsels College members and staff on corporate, governance and medical legal matters. Additionally, he advises College members and staff on fraud and abuse, self-referral and other federal and state compliance and transactional matters. Mr. Hoffman currently serves as principal staff to ACR’s Ethics and Governance Committees and co-staff to ACR’s Bylaws Committee. Additionally, he has served as staff to the ACR Commission on Leadership and Practice Development, and ACR Task Forces on Teleradiology Practice; Conflicts of Interest; International Teleradiology and Regulatory Compliance.

Mr. Hoffman is a Certified Association Executive of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). He served as Chair of the ASAE Legal Section Council in 2008-2009 and chaired and served on the ASAE Annual Association Law Symposium (Washington, DC) Planning Committee. Mr. Hoffman joined the faculty at George Mason University in the fall semester of 2012 as an adjunct member and has taught undergraduate-level courses in health care law and politics and policy.

Greg Nicola, MD, FACR
Dr. Gregory N. Nicola M.D. is a practicing radiologist subspecialized in neuroradiology. He currently serves as an executive leader in the Hackensack Radiology Group, as well as board member and finance chair for the Hackensack Meridian Health Partners Clinically Integrated Network. Dr. Nicola serves as a leader in the radiology community specifically in regard to health policy and economics issues. A few of his current active roles include Chair of the American College of Radiology’s (ACR) Commission on Economics and an ACR Board of Chancellor. Aside from his leadership roles, he has authored and co-authored a numerous peer-reviewed articles pertaining to health policy and economics, as well as serves a frequent speaker at national medical conferences.

Elizabeth Rula, PhD
Elizabeth Rula, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Neiman Health Policy Institute, which has the mission to establish evidence to inform health policy and radiology practice that promotes the effective and efficient use of health care resources and improves patient care. With over 15 years of experience leading health services, economics and outcomes research, Dr. Rula strives to establish a strong scientific foundation for the value of health care services and health policy that promotes broad and equitable access to high-value care.

William T. Thorwarth Jr, MD, FACR
William (Bill) Thorwarth MD is the Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Radiology, assuming that role in April 2014.

After receiving his undergraduate and medical degrees from Dartmouth College and Medical School, he trained in internal medicine at Penn State in Hershey PA and then completed his radiology residency at the University of North Carolina. He practiced interventional and diagnostic radiology as a member of Catawba Radiological Associates in Hickory, NC for nearly 30 years during which he served on the Board of Directors of Frye Regional Medical Center for the last 20 years. Dr. Thorwarth became actively involved with the American College of Radiology, concentrating his efforts on proper coding and reimbursement. He was elected to the ACR Board of Chancellors where he chaired the Commission on Economics for 5 years before assuming the role of ACR President from 2003-2004. Dr. Thorwarth was appointed to a seat on the AMA Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel in 1999, which oversees the CPT coding process, and was appointed as Chairman of the Panel from 2007-2011. He has also been active in the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) where he was appointed to the R and E Foundation Board of Trustees in 2006 and subsequently to the RSNA Board of Directors where he served as Liaison for Publications and Communications until assuming his current position with the ACR. While serving the ACR as CEO he has prioritized the ACR Strategic Plan Goal of external relationships continuing his engagement across radiology and other specialties, recently having been elected as a Board of Directors member and Secretary of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies.

Dr. Thorwarth was the inaugural recipient of the ACR Excellence in Health Policy and Economics Award that bears his name. He has been awarded the Gold Medal of the ACR and, more recently, the RSNA and has been awarded the Career Achievement Award by the Dartmouth-Geisel School of Medicine.

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