Dear Members of the California
Radiological Society (CRS)/ American College
of Radiology (ACR):
I am writing to you as the RADPAC Advisor to California and, as we
are less than one week from the Annual ACR meeting in DC, I thought I
would take this opportunity to encourage YOU, my fellow radiology colleagues in
California, to donate to RADPAC (the national Political Action Committee for
the ACR) if you have not done so already.
I think most of you understand how important the work of RADPAC is
in keeping our access to and our voices heard in Congress especially during
these particularly volatile times in medicine (e.g. Healthcare Reform Bill,
constant threat of Medicare cuts, ever-present issue of self-referral by
non-radiologists). Radiology reimbursement is constantly on the chopping
block as our high technology platform necessitates it being always a big ticket
item and therefore continued education of our legislators and support of those
candidates who understand the issues of our profession are necessary to prevent
the almost inevitable reimbursement cuts from devastating many of our
practices. Other medical PACS have stepped up their efforts and we as
a profession just cannot afford not to keep pace. Our donations are the
only way that can allow RADPAC to do its work and keep our issues current in
our legislators' minds. And, of course, this year is an election year
which makes these contributions even more important.
Listed here are some examples of the advocacy efforts with which
RADPAC has been or is currently involved:
Enactment of Medicare bill in 2008 that included two imaging
utilization provisions: mandatory accreditation for
providers of advanced diagnostic imaging as well as an appropriateness
criteria pilot program.
Introduction of Self-Referral legislation H.R. 2962 -
to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exclude certain advanced
diagnostic imaging services from the in-office ancillary services exception to
the prohibition on physician self-referral.
Self-Referral amendment introduced in House Energy
& Commerce Committee during 2009 healthcare reform debate.
Pushing for passage of Mammography Bill H.R. 4794
in the House which would prevent coverage decisions on mammography screening
being based on USPSTF recommendations.
Testified before House Energy & Commerce Health
Subcommittee on radiation safety issues on February 26, 2010.
Establishing the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and
Bioengineering. This institute has a budget of $280+ million per annum,
increasing payments to physicians and facilities for mammograms ($750 million
over 10 years).
Avoiding cuts to Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula
in 2003-2009.
If you have already donated, please accept my thanks on behalf of
RADPAC. And if you have not donated yet, please do consider donating now
before the Annual Meeting of the ACR which begins this coming weekend (May 15th).
Of course, a donation any time during the year would be appreciated but getting
your contributions in before the ACR Annual Meeting allows you to be
recognized at the Annual Meeting and allows California
to be recognized as well. In 2009, California had the most number of
contributors to RADPAC as a state and I would very much like us to continue in
this leadership role.
I have included links to RADPAC contribution forms for your
convenience. Click here for the contribution form. Click here for instructions on how to
donate as a group while still keeping the contributions as "hard
money" (individual) contributions. Although appreciated and
accepted, corporate contributions (so called "soft money") are
less useful as they cannot be given directly to political campaigns.
Thanks for your attention. Please feel free to contact me if
you have any questions. Please also refer to www.radpac.org for more
information.
Sincerely,
Mark Yeh, MD
RADPAC Advisor for California
Cell: 818-601-7509
