A bill has resurfaced in Congress that, if passed, could revitalize the Medicare Imaging Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) program.
Introduced on October 10, a House version of the Radiology Outpatient Ordering Transmission (ROOT) Act (number to be assigned) seeks to eliminate Medicare's real-time claims reporting requirement and require providers to attest to reviewing appropriate use criteria at the point of care, the American College of Radiology (ACR) explained in a bulletin.
The proposed legislation would ensure the timely and efficient implementation of the AUC program, according to the ACR. Reps. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) and Blake Moore (R-UT) cosponsored the bill.
Like previous versions, the latest ROOT Act would also amend the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014.
The legislation proposes that compliance data be collected and reviewed by hospitals and health systems to educate providers and manage utilization. It would add exclusions for providers participating in clinical trials and for small or rural practices, as defined by CMS. Finally, the bill would establish a review study based on collected data to inform future improvements.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced a Senate version of the ROOT Act (S 1692) in May.
