Residents attend 2015 ACR meeting in Washington, DC

From 5/16-5/21, my co-residents Kristina Nowitzki, Monique Tyminski, Eileen Delaney, Bill Parkhurst and I attended the 2015 ACR meeting in Washington DC.  ACR 2015 is the inaugural annual meeting of the American College of Radiology that focuses on integrating clinical education with the practical tools that impact the practice of radiology and quality of patient care. We participated in sessions discussing the future of radiology in matters of advocacy, economics and health policy, clinical research, quality and safety, informatics and innovations.

On 5/20 we took to Capitol Hill to thank our Representatives and Senators for repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate (the law requiring a yearly “doc-fix” to prevent us from losing up to 25% of our professional fee from Medicare reimbursements).  Additionally we asked for support for our two new bills:

1)  H.R. / S.R. 1151, the USPSTF Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015, which will help us to understand why this task force does not support screening mammography for women aged 40-49.

2)  H.R. 2043/S.R. 1020, the Diagnostic Imaging Services Access Protection Act, which will repeal the 25 percent professional component multiple procedure payment reduction (PC MPPR) mandated under the Calendar Year 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

Among others, I was able to meet with Congressman Ed Perlmutter and his staff who represent my home district 7 of Colorado (pictured).  My co-residents met with many of the Representatives and Senators from Massachusetts. 

Immediately after our visit, our Diagnostic Imaging Services Access Protection Act was included within the larger H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act, which then unanimously passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. 

Seeing how radiologists can impact healthcare policy at a national level was a fantastic experience that will ensure my co-residents and I remain engaged in national policy for the rest of our careers. We would like to thank the Department, Dr. Rosen, and the Massachusetts Radiological Society for supporting our attendance at this meeting.

Eileen Delaney, MD and Kristina Nowitzki, MD, PhD with the Mass Radiologic Society delegation as part of the ACR’s “Capitol Hill Day"