Dear AuntMinnie Member,
If you asked any U.S. radiologist what was on their wish list, a ban on in-office physician self-referral might be right there at the top. But such a prohibition isn't even on the radar screens of federal lawmakers, according to a presentation by representatives of the American College of Radiology.
Speaking at the American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in New Orleans this week, ACR officials said that additional "Stark" legislation extending the self-referral ban into physician offices was impossible given the political makeup of Congress and the opposition of other medical societies. AuntMinnie staff writer Tracie L. Thompson was on hand to report on the news for our Imaging Center Digital Community.
Rather than fight a Sisyphean battle in Congress, the ACR has been opening other fronts in the struggle against self-referral. The group has hired public relations and law firms to press radiology's agenda, and is also lobbying Medicare officials on topics like federal standards for imaging providers. Find out what else the ACR is doing by clicking here.
Another story from the ARRS meeting shows that all is not lost in cross-sectional cardiac imaging. Radiologists can still get a piece of the pie in heart imaging, particularly if they're willing to, ahem, partner with cardiologists. Read all about it in our Cardiac Imaging Digital Community, or by clicking here.
