j.jacr.2008.05.019
RICHARD DUSZAK JR, MD
With increased emphasis by society on evidence-based medicine and increased pressure by payers to control health care costs, new technology is now scruti¬nized more than ever. For physicians, this means that appropriate reimburse¬ment frequently lags behind innova¬tion. Unfortunately, because our spe¬cialty is so technologically oriented, this payment mismatch disproportionately affects radiologists. In response to an increasing body of literature, patient demand, and media attention, cardiac computed to¬mographic angiography (CCTA) and computed tomographic colonography (CTC) have become highly visible im¬aging technologies, and most practices are expanding or considering expand¬ing these services. Coding, coverage, and overall reimbursement have been moving targets and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Since previously discussed in this column [1,2], reimbursement for both CCTA and CTC has evolved, fortu¬nately in a favorable way, expanding patient access. These services were the focus of an interactive economics ses¬sion at the ACR Annual Meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference (AMCLC 2008). In this column, I de¬scribe the changing reimbursement landscape, incorporating some of that informal meeting survey data, and offer some predictions for the months and years to come.