ACS Views on Legislative, Regulatory, and Other Issues

Access to Imaging Services—

We, the undersigned members of the COALITION for PATIENT CENTERED IMAGING, agree to the following principles:

• A patient's right to receive the most advanced, effective diagnosis and treatment through in-office imaging must be protected. Patient access must be ensured.
• In-office imaging provides patients with prompt, convenient, high-quality test results and allows for a more timely diagnosis and initiation of treatment.
• A patient's doctor is best qualified to decide when a test is necessary, and may be best qualified to administer the test and interpret the results. Only a patient's doctor can integrate imaging results into the medical treatment plan.
• Patients' access to quality health care services and treatment will suffer if restrictions are imposed on physicians' ability to provide in-office imaging.
• In-office imaging provides savings in other areas of Medicare spending by supplanting invasive techniques performed in hospital settings, allowing specialists to diagnose and treat patients sooner, before complications arise, and reducing the number of office visits.
• Congress should mandate and fund cost-effectiveness studies to determine the incremental costs of procedures in relation to their incremental health benefits, as increases in medical imaging volume and costs may actually be offset by improved patient health care.
• Congress should be made aware there is not a consensus in the physician community regarding the specialty-specific training, experience, and other requirements for physicians who administer and interpret imaging studies per each modality.
• In absence of a thorough analysis proving effectiveness, mandatory imaging accreditation and physician imaging certification cannot be assumed to achieve significant cost savings or decrease utilization in the Medicare program. Public policy initiatives should support efforts by individual medical societies to ensure appropriate utilization by qualified specialists, but should not encumber these efforts by overly burdensome regulations.
• There are no credible and impartial studies documenting serious quality and safety concerns of in-office imaging that necessitate increased regulatory oversight.

ACS Views on Legislative, Regulatory, and Other Issues

Advocacy and Health Policy