April 25, 2019

Rep. Mike Doyle introduced H.R. 1970, the Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act, on March 28, 2019. The legislation would allow radiologists to submit claims to Medicare for non-imaging services performed by radiologist assistants in hospital and office settings, as well as imaging services in hospitals. Reps. Pete Olson, Ron Kind, Greg Gianforte, John Sarbanes, and Terri Sewell serve as co-sponsors of the bipartisan bill.

Senator Boozman (R-AR) and Senator Casey (D-PA) also introduced S1544 a companion MARCA Bill in the Senate.

If enacted, MARCA would offer Medicare recognition of RAs as midlevel providers of health care services working under the supervision of a radiologist. The MARCA bill is another positive step toward RA recognition at the federal level. In November 2018, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services revised the Physician Fee Schedule to allow RAs to practice under “direct supervision” levels. The change followed significant advocacy efforts targeting CMS by SRPE and other radiology stakeholders.

Please contact your Representatives to co-sponsor this important legislation. A sample letter can be found here and maybe modified for your practice.

The SRPE, ARRT, and ASRT is organizing a RA on the Hill day in Washington DC for May 20-21st, to run in conjunction with the ACR's Hill Day which is May 22nd.The SRPE would like to ask that you contact your Congressperson's district offices those days and ask him/her to cosponsor HR 1970 MARCA.