August 2008 Newsletter

IAC Commends the U.S. Congress for Passing the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act
The United States Congress recently passed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act that includes, among other items, the establishment of required accreditation for imaging and an elimination of a scheduled 10.6% cut in physician fees.  By 2010, the federal Health and Human Services will develop a list of approved accrediting bodies that can review and accredit imaging sites.  The Intersocietal Accreditation Committee (IAC), an independent accrediting body of in-office imaging, states that they will be working to ensure that they are part of that list.  By 2012, all imaging sites in the nation would have to be accredited to achieve Medicare reimbursement.  

This will likely make the path easier for private insurance as well because insurance companies will then rely on Medicare to do the work for accrediting approval and simply accept reimbursement from sites that are already approved under Medicare.  It is unlikely that an extra step of getting accreditation approval for private insurance as well as getting Medicare accreditation approval will occur.  The private insurance companies are expected to line-up behind Medicare and trust their accreditation approval.  
 
For the full article on the Act, please visit http://www.dimag.com/showNews.jhtml?articleID=209100232