Jun 21, 2022

Alexander Ding, MD , MBA, a radiologist, incoming   American Medical Association (AMA) Board of Trustees member, AMA delegate with the California Medical Association, explains the new AMA policy calling on Congress to change the language and implementation of the current Medicare mandate that all advanced medical imaging needs certification that the order includes consulting a clinician decision support (CDS) software. The goal of the legislation, which originated under the PAMA Act in 2014, was to determine if the imaging exams falls under appropriate use criteria set by various medical societies. The goal is to reduce the use of expensive imaging exams that are not necessary. However, implementation of the rule has been delayed for years because of technical issues and complaints about the policy, which penalizes radiologists, even though the order and the need to use the CDS software comes from referring physicians. The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) spearheaded an effort to get 44 medical societies to sign on to a letter earlier in 2022 asking Congress to change the requirements in the rule or repeal it. Discussions at the AMA led to the AMA resolution being considered to remove the repeal language. Ding said the medical societies are in control of the appropriate use guidelines, and the AMA policy seeks to change the language of the mandate to make it easier to implement with less administrative burdens. The Medicare rule is slated to go into effect in January 2023. Ding is also a clinical assistant professor at the University of Louisville and is physician executive-in-residence in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at Humana, and chair of the   AMA Council on Science and Public Health .