May 2022 Ebrief

The 2022 ACR Meeting came to a close this past week, the first in-person meeting for the College since 2019. As always, an enthusiastic Florida delegation was heavily involved in the meeting, representing our state, our radiologists, and our patients.

We would like to congratulate the new Fellows of the ACR from Florida: Guilherme Dabus, MD, Gary Felsberg, MD, Doug Hornsby, MD, Robin Osborne, DO, Jeffrey Peterson, MD, and Robert Pooley, MD. We would also like to celebrate our own David Epstein, MD, for receiving ACR Global Humanitarian Award for his work across the globe in helping patients in need, including Honduras, Panama, and Iraq. Please click here for more information on Dr. Epstein’s work Click Here. Congratulations David!

The ACR meeting as usual focused on economics and advocacy. The Board discussed the joint lawsuit of the ACR and the societies for emergency medicine and anesthesia against the federal government over the No Surprises Act. In short, the Act aims to curb bills to patients from out-of-network providers and legislated a dispute resolution process including arbitration when an out-of-network provider had a dispute over how much the insurer should pay. When agencies implemented the Act, however, they made that arbitration secondary to a Qualified Payment Amount (median in-network payment) as a central way to determine the ultimate rate that was paid. This decision is seen as contrary to what the Act itself demanded and as detrimental to physicians. The QPA may be significantly lower than what the physician would usually be paid, and the system incentivizes insurers to *want* physicians and groups to be out-of-network so they can pay the low QPA rate. See here for more information Click Here. The Texas Medical Association successfully sued to have a stay placed on the Act, and the federal government recently (Fri Apr 22) appealed that stay. So, the court battle is ongoing. A recent legislative win for the ACR was in December 2021 with the “Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act”, which staved off significant cuts from Medicare reimbursements to radiology. So, it is not all doom and gloom on the reimbursement front, but it is clear that we have to stay vigilant and involved. For the first time in AMA history, a radiologist, Zeke Silva from Texas, will chair the RUC committee of the AMA, a crucial role in the system that determines Medicare payments and ensures our work is valued properly. See Click Here. Elections for the College were held and the BOC and CSC results are below. Several resolutions were considered and the following resolutions PASSED: neutral position on MARCA, new practice parameters virtual meeting, climate change, partnership track considerations at change of business, family and medical leave, and economic credentialing and exclusive contracts.

At the meeting itself Florida played its usual hospitable role — we hosted residents and students, helped lead the Southern States caucus in discussing resolutions and policy, and met to break bread at the Old Ebbitt Grill for our Florida state dinner. We all look forward to the same hospitality at our state annual meeting in July. We hope to see you there!

ACR Council Elections Results for the 2022 Annual Meeting
President, ACR
One-year term.
Howard B. Fleishon, MD, MMM, FACR

Vice President, ACR
One-year term.
Frank J. Lexa, MD, MBA, FACR

ACR Board of Chancellors Member – Commission on General, Small, Emergency and Rural Practices
First three-year term.
Mark D. Alson, MD, FACR

ACR Board of Chancellors Member – Commission on Radiation Oncology
Second three-year term.
William Small Jr., MD, FACR

ACR Board of Chancellors Member – Commission for Women and Diversity
Second three-year term.
Johnson B. Lightfoote, MD, FACR

ACR Board of Chancellors – Member At-Large
Second three-year term.
Timothy L. Swan, MD, FACR

ACR Board of Chancellors – YPS Position
Two-year term.
Taj Kattapuram, MD

ACR Council Steering Committee
New or Renewed Two-year term.
Rachel Gerson, MD
Nolan J. Kagetsu, MD, FACR
Andrew K. Moriarity, MD
Derrick Siebert, MD

ACR College Nominating Committee
Two-year term.
Betsy Jacobs, MD, FACR
Neil U. Lall, MD
Christopher R. McAdams, MD

 

The ACR meeting in Washington DC
The FRS had a strong presence at this annual meeting. Our 31 delegates included: councilors, alternate councilors, members, new fellows, residents and medical students. The FRS and the FRS Educational Foundation had sponsored 7 residents and 2 medical students from multiple radiology and radiation oncology programs.
 
Below are FRS members that were awarded the FACR award at this year’s convocation:

Gary Joesph Felsberg, MD
Douglas Neal Hornsby, MD
Robin E Osborn, MD
Jeffrey James Peterson, MD
Robert lan Pooley, PhD

Congratulations to all of the newest ACR fellows from the FRS chapter. The 2022 FACR application cycle is open and the deadline for the Florida chapter is May 31.

Some of the important resolutions that were passed with little alterations at the ACR annual meeting are:

Family leave: The American College of Radiology (ACR) recommends that diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, radiation oncology and nuclear 64 medicine practices, departments and training programs strive to provide 12 weeks of paid family/medical leave in a 12-month period for its attending and trainee physicians as needed.  

Partnership-track Associates at time of business change: The ACR recommends that partnership track associates should receive at least some proportional monetary compensation and should be included in discussions related to substantial changes in practice structure or ownership as legally permissible.

ACR Elections: Unfortunately, the FRS did not have any candidates in fray. Hopefully, we will have some next year.  

Hope to see an even stronger presence of the FRS chapter in next year’s ACR meeting.