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RAN

Established 2012

RAN Update ACR 2018

The Radiology Advocacy Network had a very productive meeting this year at ACR 2018. As a result of the changes to the meeting program, the total number of sessions were reduced and the RAN only presented to the RFS, YPS, and Chapter Leaders. All three sessions were well received and very effective.

The RFS has been very effective in creating a grassroots network within most of their residen-cy programs and their participation in advocacy has been high as a result. We are now looking to do the same within the YPS to enable the RAN to keep this particular demographic en-gaged as YPS members begin their careers.

New to this year’s meeting was a tweetchat hosted by Dr. Youmans and the RAN. The discus-sion revolved around Physician Extenders/Scope of Practice, which generated strong interest and exploration of this topic has continued on Engage. For a glimpse at the conversation please use the following link, #Radvocacy Tweet Chat: Physicians Extenders/Scope of Practice Hill Day Picture Contest

For a third year in a row, the RAN hosted a Twitter picture contest during ACR’s Hill Day. There were some great entries and participation by our advocates grew from years past. The RAN would like to congratulate our winners and all those who participated.

3rd Place: Dr. Andrew Kayes (HI)

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

R A N

L i a i s o n s

VACANT AK

VACANT AL

Philip J Kenney, MD, FACR AR

William Henry, MD AR

Dan Gridley, MD AZ

Bob Achermann, JD CA

Chip Dodd, MD, FACR CO

Katie Lozano, MD, FACR CO

Steven Cohen, MD, FACR CT

Kristina Siddall, MD DE

Edem Chen, MD FL

Richard Benator, MD, FACR FL

Pramod Kalia, MD GA

Eric Friedberg, MD, FACR GA

Elizabeth Ignacio, MD HI

Josh McDonald, MD IA

Alan Stolpen, MD, FACR IA

Neil Davey, MD ID

Suzanne Hand, MD IN

Jim Owen, MD, FACR KS

Brad Williams, MD KY

Adam Matthew Dowling, MD, FACR LA

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2nd Place: Dr. Jeanna Harvey Barnes (RI)

1st Place: Dr. Meg Fllemming (GA)

Take a look at all the great pictures sent in during Hill Day here. RAN Journal Club The RAN will develop a journal club that will meet on a quarterly basis to discuss topics/issues that encompass advocacy and impact radiology and patient care. We are looking to identify leaders with interest in running and leading these topics in conversation. The club will meet via webex format so topics and discussions can be rec-orded for future reference. Our goal is to have the first meeting of the club in September of this year. Each of these quarterly conversations/discussions will be followed by an Engage thread to foster more comment and participation from all of our members. If you are interested in being involved in this initiative please feel free to contact Melody Ballesteros.

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

R A N

L i a i s o n s

RAN

Established 2012

Sanjay Shetty, MD, MBA MA

David Rosman, MD, MBA MA

Loralie Ma, MD, PhD, FACR MD

VACANT ME

Karan Patel, MD MI

Andy Moriarty, MD MI

Kevin Smith, MD, FACR MN

Joe Tashjian, MD, FACR MN

Sidney B Belshe, MD, FACR MO

Andrew Rivard, MD MS

Kevin Cregan, MD NC

Chris Ullrich, MD, FACR NC

Andrew Wu, MD, FACR NC

James Smith, MD, FACR NE

Jocelyn Deborah Chertoff, MD, MS, FACR NH

Nicole Saphier, MD NJ

Alex Lorusso, MD NM

Randy Shellin, MD NV

Ashok Gupta, MD NV

Raja Cheruvu, MD NY

Linda Reilman, MD, FACR OH

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Howard Fleishon, Advocate of the Year

Amy Patel, MD (MO)

One of the most exciting events of the annual meeting is presenting the Advocate of the Year Award. With so many wonderful #radvocates joining the ranks and working tirelessly throughout the year, choosing one person can be daunting. However, this year’s winner has set the bar extremely high and has helped to catapult the RAN into a more visible and inclu-sive program that engages members from across the country through various mediums. Most notable was her ability to reach and maintain engagement from our #radvocates through so-cial media.

Dr. Patel’s resume in the ACR alone is impressive and suffice it to say that she has enthusiasti-cally sought out and embraced leadership positions since early in her training years. A former Rutherford-Lavanty Fellow she has served in various roles from the RFS to the Commission on Government Relations, Committee on Economics, and as an alternate counselor for the Mis-souri State Radiological Society.

Anyone who follows social media knows that Dr. Patel is Twitter royalty. Dr. Patel volun-teered to spearhead the challenge of creating a robust social media presence for the RAN that would promote inclusive discussion of legislative and policy issues, and to engage more incoming trainees and young radiologists. Her success has been the RAN’s success not only in terms of recruiting advocates, but also in terms of engaging members who weren’t active in advocacy. With Dr. Patel’s help and leadership, we have grown the RAN both in terms of par-ticipants and participation which will continue to increase and impact our outreach in the future.

Because of her commitment to radiology, its patients and advocacy in their support, the RAN is proud to have presented the Howard Fleishon Advocate of the Year Award to Dr. Amy Pa-tel.

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

A d v o c a t e o f

t h e Ye a r

RAN

Established 2012

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RADPAC Update

Halfway through 2018, RADPAC has raised $652,730 from 2,149 contributors. While these are strong fundraising numbers at the midway point of an election-year, both the dollars received and number of contributors are less than this time last year. The total raised so far for the 2017-2018 election-cycle is $1,907,855.

Already in 2018, thirty-eight groups (representing twenty-two states) have qualified as “outstanding practices”, which means the majority (if not all) of the radiologists in their prac-tice contribute to RADPAC. Over the past four years, RADPAC has averaged 75+ outstanding practices per year.

RADPAC is reactivating its Academic and Private Practice Taskforces to strengthen its solicita-tion pitches to both of these universes of the membership. Drs. Matt Hawkins and Christo-pher McAdams will lead RADPAC’s Academic Taskforce and Dr. Amy Patel will lead the Private Practice Taskforce.

In the coming weeks, RADPAC will be providing election resources on its website covering the top House and Senate races in the country. For more information on supporting RADPAC, go to www.radpac.org.

Radiologists Running for Congress

Dr. Ferrara Campaign Update

The Republican primary field in Arizona’s 9th Congressional District open seat changed dra-matically a week after the ballot qualifying deadline in May. Dr. Steve Ferrara’s most credible primary opponent withdrew his name from the ballot thus giving his campaign a relatively clear path to victory in the August 28 primary election. In addition to this development, Dr. Ferrara has recently picked up endorsements from both the Arizona Medical Society and the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Ferrara is on pace to have one of his best fundraising quarters for his campaign. Momentum is definitely building for Dr. Ferrara’s campaign – learn more on his website: www.ferraraforcongress.com

Dr. Sevigny Campaign Update

Dr. Sevigny is running for Florida’s 6th Congressional District open seat. His Democrat primary is August 28. Dr. Sevigny entered the race in January 2018 and has made steady progress with both his campaign’s fundraising and voter outreach efforts. Dr. Sevigny recently earned the endorsement of the local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union which is an important constituency for his primary race. To learn more about Dr. Sevigny’s cam-paign, visit his website at: www.sevignyforcongress.com

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

R A N

L i a i s o n s

Harish Patel, MD OK

Paula Shultz, MD OR

Rajan Agarwal, MD, MBA PA

Monica Wood, MD RFS

Peter Evangelista, MD RI

Naveen Parti, MD SC

Andrew Soye, MD SD

James Wolfe, MD, FACR TN

Renita Fonseca TX

Alicia Kothmann TX

Tilden Childs, MD, FACR TX

Isaac Raymond Kirk III, MD, FACR TX

Jody Lee, MD TX

Zeke Silva, MD, FACR TX

Maryellyn Gilfeather, MD, FACR UT

Richard Szucs, MD, FACR VA

Joshua Nickerson, MD VT

Justin Smith, MD, MS WA

Gregg Bogost, MD, FACR WI

Ian Weissman, DO WI

Ansaar Rai, MD WV

Joe McGinley, MD WY

Andy Moriarty, MD YPS

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Capitol Hill Day Recap Radiologists Storm Capitol Hill In Support of Better Patient Care

The American College of Radiology’s (ACR) 2018 Capitol Hill Day was a resounding success. More than 450 radiologists met with their federal elected representatives May 23 in hopes of securing additional support for two important pieces of legislation, H.R. 1298, the CT Colon-ography Screening for Colorectal Cancer Act, and H.R. 1904/S. 769, the Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act (MARCA).

Conducted in conjunction with the ACR Annual Meeting, Capitol Hill Day also gave partici-pants an opportunity to thank numerous Senators and Representatives for passing legislation that increased the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $3 billion. Increased NIH funding was a key priority during last year’s Capitol Hill Day and radiol-ogists appreciate their federal elected officials responding to previous requests. On June 28, 2018 the Senate Appropriations Committee Approved, 30-1, its fiscal year 2019 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill with a $2 billion increase for the NIH.

Introduced by Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), and Danny Davis (D-IL), H.R. 1298 would require Medicare to cover CT Colonography (CTC) without any patient cost sharing, including copayments coinsurance, or deductibles. Per the provisions of the Patient Protec-tion and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), private insurers are required to cover CTC without cost sharing due to the fact that colon cancer screening services, in general, received a Grade of “A” from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). However, Medicare is not bound by the same mandatory coverage requirements within PPACA and relies on a Na-tional Coverage Determination (NCD) process to add services without cost-sharing. The ACR has long supported Medicare coverage for CTC and is committed to ensuring Medicare bene-ficiaries have equal access to this effective, non-invasive screening test.

H.R. 1904/S. 769 recognizes Radiologist Assistants (RAs) as non-physician Medicare providers and aligns Medicare supervision requirements with state law. Radiologists stressed to their Senators and Representatives that, if enacted, MARCA requires RAs to always practice under the onsite supervision of a radiologist and also explicitly prevents these non-physician ex-tenders from interpreting images. H.R. 1904/S. 769 is an effort to help facilitate greater daily workflow for radiologists while simultaneously ensuring non-physician extenders have spe-cific training in medical imaging. If enacted, MARCA will allow radiologists more time to re-view and interpret complex images while still preserving quality patient care. The legislation currently has the full support of all stakeholders in the medical imaging community, including the ACR, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, the Society of Radiology Physician Extenders, and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

Once again, ACR members proved to be invaluable advocates for their specialty and patients as H.R. 1298 and H.R. 1904 secured 17 and 8 additional bipartisan cosponsors, respectively, since the conclusion of Capitol Hill Day.

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

RAN Website

RAN Twitter

RAN

Established 2012

For more information, contact:

Melody Ballesteros

mballesteros@acr.org

RAN Facebook

RAN Engage

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State Government Relations

Strategies and Opportunities to Strengthen Your Advocacy Program.

A full hour of ACR’s AMCLC 2018 plenary session was devoted to state advocacy. On Sunday afternoon of the meeting, a panel of speakers, moderated by Loralie Ma, MD, FACR, had an opportunity to discuss their advocacy programs and to highlight aspects that work particular-ly well for their respective societies. As a council member from Maryland, and an incoming President of the State GR Committee, Dr. Ma gave an overview of the experience in Maryland where the society is advocating for a set of recurring issues for multiple years. Having to deal with a recurring issue such as prohibition of self-referral practice can be tiring, both for Radi-ologists in Maryland trying to defend the law, as well as the Legislators who hear the same arguments each year. Dr. Ma gave specific examples of how an effective lobbying team, combined with the dedicated relationship-building with state legislators, can yield positive results year after year.

The advocacy panelists also included:

Tyler Prout, MD Clinical Associate Professor of Radiology and Chief of Ultrasound Imaging in University of Wisconsin School of Medicine: Dr. Prout spoke about Wisconsin’s experience and the need for all physicians to be involved with advocacy. In his presentation entitled “Roll Up Your Sleeves and Just Do It, ” Dr. Prout touched on effective use of RAN’s grassroots capabilities and the positive impact the tool had on Wisconsin’s state advocacy efforts.

Terrance Healey, MD, Assistant Professor & Director of Thoracic Radiology in The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Rhode Island: Dr. Healy shared that the Rhode Island Radiology Society has been “a small state accomplishing big things” and focused his presentation on the RIS’s successful multi-year effort to phase out physician provider tax in the state. Dr. Healey underlined the importance of radiologists being politically active locally and not making the assumption that the state medical society will always protect the special-ty’s interests.

Jim Schlund, MD, Chairman Elect of the 11th District of California Medical Association and Founder, Construction Manager and Former Director of the Chico Breast Care Center: Dr. Schlund is closely involved with the advocacy work of the California Radiological Society (CRS) and his presentation focused on how the CRS’ was very successful in bi-furcating advocacy efforts between legislative and regulatory fronts on securing coverage for breast tomosyn-thesis.

David Youmans, MD, President of the Radiological Society of New Jersey and current Chair of RAN: Dr. Youmans wrapped up the discussion by emphasizing the importance of the RAN as an effective advocacy tool. The call-to-action feature has been utilized successfully by several state societies and has yielded very positive results.

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

RAN Website

RAN Twitter

RAN

Established 2012

For more information, contact:

Melody Ballesteros

mballesteros@acr.org

RAN Facebook

RAN Engage

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**Once the presentations are made available on the ACR’s website, the staff will circulate the link to the respective slide decks.

Opt In for Statescape Access

ACR members can stay abreast of legislative developments relevant to radiology in their states or other states across the nation by opting in to receive weekly e-mail reports through the College’s collaboration with StateScape, a respected legislation tracking service. ACR has worked with StateScape to secure continuous, comprehensive updates on radiology and health care-related legislation. The tracking service has helped state chapter leaders monitor legislative developments in their states and has guided the ACR’s national political advocacy efforts.

We anticipate distributing bill tracking alerts once the legislatures begin the pre-filing process for 2019 and throughout the next legislative session. If you would like to opt in to receive StateScape alerts for your respective states please contact Eugenia Brandt, ebrandt@acr.org.

Rutherford Experience

Dr. Shivam Shah, 3rd Year Resident

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson University

In June 2018, I had the honor of traveling to Washington, DC as part of the American College of Radiology’s (ACR) Rutherford-Lavanty Governmental Relations Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship offers radiology residents a rare opportunity to experience, firsthand, how healthcare policies are formed in our nation’s capital. Named in honor of former ACR lobby-ists J.T. Rutherford and Donald Lavanty, the fellowship began in 1993 and, amazingly, close to 200 enthusiastic radiology residents have participated in the program. On average, 3-8 radiol-ogy residents serve as fellows spending one week at the ACR’s Government Relations Office to work with the staff on current healthcare issues affecting our specialty. The purpose of this fellowship is to get promising radiologists involved in government relations and healthcare, as well as to raise the ACR’s visibility at the federal level.

During my week in Washington D.C. I was fortunate to work closely with the ACR D.C office staff, including the overly proficient Chris Sherin, Rebecca Spangler, and Ted Burnes. I attend-ed many round-table discussions, fundraising events, and receptions on Capitol Hill. I also met with the various congressmen and their health legislative assistants to discuss a pending House bill pertaining to Medicare coverage of CT Colonographies (CTC), specifically H.R. 1298 the CT Colonography Screening for Colorectal Cancer Act. Per the provisions of the Pa-tient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), private insurers are required to cover CTC without patient cost sharing (e.g copayments, coinsurance, or deductibles) due to the fact that colon cancer screening services, in general, received a Grade of “A” from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Medicare, however, is not bound by the same mandatory coverage requirements within PPACA and relies on a National Coverage

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

RAN Website

RAN Twitter

RAN

Established 2012

For more information, contact:

Melody Ballesteros

mballesteros@acr.org

RAN Facebook

RAN Engage

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Determination (NCD) process to add services without cost-sharing. During my Capitol Hill meetings, I—along with the ACR lobbying group—advocated for my representatives to co-sponsor this important bill.

I also advocated for H.R. 1904/S. 769, the Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act (MARCA), which is a bill to recognize Radiologist Assistants (RAs) as non-physician personnel for Medi-care billing purposes. With respect to supervision of RAs, the legislation defers to state law in order to make it possible for RAs to work under the on-site, “direct” supervision of a radiolo-gist to perform certain specific procedures. By eliminating the more restrictive “personal” supervision requirement, if enacted, MARCA will give radiologists the chance to focus on more complex procedures in hopes of expediting patient care while ensuring safety and sim-ultaneously maintaining high quality. RAs are also explicitly prevented from interpreting im-ages.

To further supplement the key points of the face-to-face meetings, I also participated in con-ference calls at the ACR office which gave me a deeper understanding of issues radiologists face in our daily practice. Through this vast array of activities, I was able to better understand the basic gravity of the various bills and policies, as well as learn where the ACR stands on these issues.

During this fellowship, I also realized that knowing the political and economic effects of inno-vative imaging technologies is equally, if not more important, than a thorough understanding of the clinical uses of the device. During my training as a radiology resident, I have always yearned to acquire as much radiology knowledge as possible. Invariably, this high level of ex-posure to the federal government that I gained through the Rutherford-Lavanty fellowship has augmented my knowledge base. As healthcare payments change, the specialty of radiolo-gy has had to adapt and make necessary adjustments to stay current and remain successful. One cannot overstate how important it is that the patients who need our care have adequate coverage for their imaging needs.

By the end of the fellowship week, I felt confident that I amassed an immense amount of in-formation and understanding about the issues facing radiology. I am also able to visualize the current trend in radiology from the perspective of the physician, patient, and payer. I strongly believe that being exposed to these topics at this high governmental level gives a radiology resident a view of what life is like outside of the reading room. I highly encourage every radi-ology resident to get involved in the ACR’s Resident and Fellow program in some way. I truly believe that such an endeavor will not only guarantee improved leadership in the field of ra-diology for the future, but it will always present enthusiastic radiologists with strong network-ing possibilities that will invariably positively impact their radiology careers.

RAN Newslet ter July 2018

RAN Website

RAN Twitter

RAN

Established 2012

For more information, contact:

Melody Ballesteros

mballesteros@acr.org

RAN Facebook

RAN Engage

Dr. Shivam Shah with Rep.

Leonard Lance (R-NJ)