Ebrief

March Ebrief 2020

Posted by

Lorraine Roger

On March 11, 2020

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Edition: March 2020

Table of Contents

Letter from the Editor

It is March Madness again, and CMS is planning more cuts for Radiology in 2021.

Beginning in CY 2021, radiologists should expect to see a fairly significant decrease in overall payments, as these changes will adversely affect physicians who rarely bill for E/M. A CMS analysis on the specialty-level impact found that these changes would lead to an 8% decline in radiologist payment. ACR is fighting back and urging all the Radiologist to contact your Members of Congress and urge them to oppose such cuts. -> Click Here to Read More

Madness about the so-called SURPRISE BILL for out of network charges to the patients continues with no real solution at the state or federal level. Click Here to Read More

Medscape Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2020 has interesting findings: Radiologists rank low among physicians with happiest marriages.

Radiologists are one of the physician specialties that are least happy with their marriage, according to a new survey of more than 15,000 doctors, released Jan. 8. About 51% of imaging professionals stated they are happy with marriage, tying radiology for third as last on the list with several other specialties. Psychiatry (48%) and critical care (45%) rounded out at the bottom of the list. On the other side, nephrology and physical medicine/rehab reported the highest percentage of satisfaction with their spouses, both at 61%. Click Here to Read More

Chintan Desai, MD
Secretary, Florida Radiological Society
desai@desairadiology.com

Meet Your 2019 – 2020 FRS Executive Committee

President
Patricia Mergo, MD, FACR

President-Elect
Douglas Hornsby, MD

FRS President’s Message

It has been a very active 2020 to date with several important legislative items up for consideration. At the forefront is Florida House Bill 607, which would allow Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) and physician assistants (PAs) to practice independently without any supervision by licensed physicians. Click here to see the attached link to Florida Patient Protection Coalition, which will provide information for contacting your representatives for input on this bill. This is an important issue that needs the attention of each and every member! The FMA has been very active on this issue.

In thinking on a deeper level about this issue, we should feel challenged as a medical specialty to evaluate ways in which we as physicians in radiology can provide our services in a more accessible manner to patients in need. The reality is that even at present there is inadequate patient access to quality medical care. If physicians do not work diligently to improve access, other providers will step in. We would be foolish to think that this would not eventually occur within the specialty of radiology. Machine learning and AI are tools which we can use to integrate our specialty back into routine patient care. We must plan carefully our path as an integral part of the patient care experience, connecting not just with the images on the screen and the data in the AI algorithms, but also with the patient.

We have the framework and the bandwidth to make this happen. It requires continued education, thought and leadership. Along these lines, we continue to educate our future leaders. The FRS Foundation is happy to announce that the scholarships for residents to attend that AMCLC will be expanded to a total of 10 scholarships, in order that each program in the state will have the opportunity to send a resident to the AMCLC in the future. Please support our FRS Foundation in order that we can provide continued support to our residents, as this has a tremendous impact on our future efforts and leadership.

In a note on housekeeping, a survey has been sent out to FRS members for voting on our new officers for 2020-2021. 1890 members were sent a survey and only 179 have replied. If you received the survey please cast your vote via the survey so our officers can be confirmed for 2020-2021. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

The AAWR and 12 state chapters are sponsoring a proposed ACR resolution for paid family/medical leave in radiology and radiation oncology practices. The resolution reads as follows: “That the American College of Radiology (ACR) recommends that radiology and radiation oncology practices, departments and training programs strive to provide 12 work weeks of paid family/medical leave in a 12-month period for radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists of all genders, including members in training.”. The FRS has not signed on as a sponsor to date but has been asked to consider this resolution. Please contact me with your thoughts regarding this resolution if you would like to express your opinion. We will likely be asked to vote on this at the upcoming ACR meeting in May.

On a note regarding the annual FRS meeting, the job fair is scheduled to take place on Sunday July 19, 2020 at our annual meeting in Ft. Lauderdale from 11:15 AM until 2:00 PM. This is an exciting new development for this year’s meeting. If you have a group or organization that id looking to hire individuals and would like to participate in the job fair, please contact the FRS office to sign up for this event.

Finally, hoping that all stay healthy as we are faced with the emergence of COVID-19 in the state of Florida. I am attaching the link to a e-publication in Radiology that provides useful information for identifying Chest CT findings of the COVID-19 infection: https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/radiol.2020200642. The conclusion of this article is that the sensitivity of Chest CT was higher for the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection when compared to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) swab samples in the epidemic in China. Stay informed, prepared, hopeful and healthy!

Patricia Mergo, MD, FACR
President, Florida Radiological Society
Mergo.Patricia@mayo.edu

Treasurer
Rajendra Kedar, MD, FACR

Secretary
Chintan Desai, MD

Past President
Steven DePrima, MD, FACR

Legal Counsel
Michael M. Raskin, M.D., J.D., FACR

FRBMA President’s Message

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has heard stakeholders’ concerns about the complexities of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and has developed MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs) to address these concerns. Radiologists have questioned the value of reporting measures since the inception of the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), which became the foundation for MIPS, and CMS now concurs. In addition to the burden created by complying with the MIPS program, CMS also cites an inability to effectively compare clinician performance, questionable meaningfulness when the focus is on what a clinician did or did not do versus the impact on patient outcomes, and a lack of patient-focused measurement.

Though efforts have been made to streamline the program, CMS is now zeroing in on more substantial changes to improve MIPS and has announced it will transition to the MVP framework beginning in calendar year 2021. CMS is proposing to define a MIPS Value Pathway as a subset of measures and activities that are specified by CMS and could include administrative claims-based measures for population health, care coordination, patient reported outcomes, patient experience, patient satisfaction; and specialty/condition specific measures.

The four guiding principles are MVPs should: 1) consist of limited sets of measures and activities that are meaningful to clinicians, which will reduce clinician burden with respect to measure selection and lead to sufficient comparative data; 2) include measures that encourage performance improvement in high priority areas; 3) include measures and activities that result in providing comparative data that is valuable to both patients and caregivers; and 4) reduce barriers to Alternative Payment Models (APM) participation by including measures that are part of APMs, and by linking cost and quality.

The goal is to align measures across “siloed” MIPS performance categories to make for a more meaningful and relevant assessments across clinicians. Each performance category would be scored according to its current methodology and CMS anticipates clinicians will fall into at least one MVP and may fall into multiple MVPs. The agency wants to create a methodology to assign the most relevant MVP(s) to a clinician and/or multispecialty group versus clinicians selecting their own MVPs.

All radiologists would either choose or be assigned a “pathway” with a set of packaged measures with no “customization,” which would create significant standardization. The importance of being an “A+” performer is increased because everyone will be scored on the same set of measures which makes it easier for CMS to compare clinicians.

CMS will provide more details about MVPs in the 2021 rulemaking cycle. The agency currently seeks to engage shareholders and is interested in recommendations about how to reduce the burden across all four MIPS categories, as well as on the number of measures included across categories, reporting timeframes, and data submission methods.

MIPS Value Pathways are described in Section III.K.3.a. of the 2020 MPFS Final Rule which was published in the Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 221 / Friday, November 15, 2019.

Barbara Rubel, MBA, FRBMA
President, FRBMA
brubel@msnllc.com

Legislative Update

As I write this article, we have nine days left of the regularly scheduled Legislative Session with overtime a certainty. The Legislature was scheduled to end March 13th.

Budget allocations have not been agreed upon and the Coronavirus is threatening the state. The legislative leadership is weighing what needs to be done financially to respond to the threats the virus poses.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure on 3/3 that would allow certain nurses to treat patients without physician oversight in regions that lack adequate health care. They used federal maps when defining the areas which are rural or poor inner-city areas. The bill now would allow nurse practitioners to treat routine ailments in those regions. It would prohibit them from autonomous practice in a hospital. There is no original Senate bill addressing nurse practitioners. The bill passed 16-4.

Scope expansion for nurses is the number one priority of the Session for Speaker Oliva. The Speaker has been clear he is not leaving Tallahassee until he gets this bill passed.

Please reach out to me via email if you have questions on the Session.

Thanks,
Alison Dudley, FRS Lobbyist
AlisonDudley@dudleyandassociates.com

SUBMIT AN ARTICLE

Martin Northup Resident Leadership Award

H. Martin Northup Resident Leadership Award – A scholarship opportunity for Florida Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology and Medical Physicist 2nd year Residents or graduate students.

Martin Northup was very committed to radiology resident education and advancement. To eternally honor and remember him, the board of the FRS Foundation has established a special award bearing his name, the “H Martin Northup Resident Leadership Award.” Each year, this award will be given to a 2nd year Florida radiology resident who will be a 3rd year at the time of the fellowship to support the cost of accommodations for attending the FRS annual summer meeting. The resident will have an officer mentor and will attend all functions including the board meeting. The goal is to develop future leaders in Radiology and develop promising residents to assume greater roles in the society, such as President of the Resident and Fellow’s Section. The award recipient will be chosen for the 2020 Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 17-19, 2020 by the Scholarships and Grants committee based on a competitive application process.

Please click here to download an application. Return your completed application to lroger@edusymp.com by May 15, 2020 in order to be considered for this award.

Thank you,
Jeffrey Stone, M.D., FACR
President, FRS Educational Foundation

2020 Annual Meeting of the FRS & FRBMA

Please join the Florida Radiological Society and the Florida Radiology Business Management Association for the 2020 Annual Meeting at The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, July 17-19, 2020. The meeting will focus on “2020 Vision: Surviving and Thriving” and will feature lectures by faculty who are leaders in the practice of radiology. We look forward to seeing you in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Job Board
	Available Positions Lake Medical Imaging

Job Posting Opportunities

Florida Radiological Society is pleased to introduce the opportunity for interested parties to advertise for potential jobs in our monthly FRS Ebrief bulletin.

Advertisement pricing is as follows:

Ebrief Job Posting pricing:
3 months ($100 monthly)
6 months ($90 monthly)
12 months ($80 monthly)

Please contact Lorraine Roger, our Society Administrator for further information on how to advertise in our monthly publication.

ph (813) 806-1070
fx (813) 806-1071
email lroger@flrad.org

We feel that this will provide a valuable service to both our members and our Florida community of Radiology.

Thank you for your interest!
Patricia Mergo, MD
President, FRS

Become a PAC Member Today

Attention FRBMA Members! Please support the cause. We encourage you to be PAC members and supporters; you do not have to belong to the FRS. Donations can be made online through our PAC website www.FLRADPAC.org.

We would like to recognize the following contributor(s) to the FRS PAC in December: Dr. Raskin

It is critical that we support both our Florida PAC and RADPAC in order to bolster our voice in Tallahassee and Washington, respectively. Please join FRS lobbyist Alison Dudley in her special appeal for all Florida radiologists to become Florida PAC members. If you would like to help FRS defend radiology against untoward legislation and introduce bills that have a positive impact on our practices, we need your financial support to re-elect our friends in the state House and Senate. The FRS can also show you simplified ways on how to sign up your radiology group. Contact Lorraine Roger at lroger@flrad.org or contact Alison Dudley at alisondudley@dudleyandassociates.com for more information.

Telephone (813) 806-1070 • Fax (813) 806-1071
5620 W. Sligh Avenue • Tampa, Florida 33634

The E-Brief is an exclusive member benefit of Florida Radiological Society, delivering monthly member, chapter and industry news. Please do not reply to this automatic e-mail. For comments or questions about the E-Brief, please contact lroger@flrad.org.

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