Proposed IAC Standard that Impacts Radiologist Ability to Qualify as Medical Directors

The IAC Vascular is proposing a change to its guidelines to recommend that medical directors and all medical staff who work in the lab have either the Registered Physician for Vascular Interpretation (RPVI through ARDMS) or American Society for Neuroimaging (ASN) physician credential. This change discounts radiology board certification (e.g., ABR) as a way for medical directors and medical staff to document training and competence in interpreting vascular ultrasound studies.

We are requesting your assistance in opposing this proposed change to physician certification for physicians in ICA Vascular-accredited vascular labs. The IAC website is open for comments until November 5.

http://intersocietal.org/iac/comment_period.htm. Select "1.1.1.4A and 1.3.1.4A".

Sample comment:

I strongly oppose this change because it discounts radiology board certification (e.g., ABR) as a way for medical directors and interpreting physicians of labs to document training and competence in interpreting vascular ultrasound studies. Radiology residency training includes training in vascular ultrasound and radiology board certification includes assessment of competence in interpreting vascular ultrasound studies. ABR certification, like the ASN credential, should be included in the list acceptable physician credentials.

You may copy the sample comment above and paste it into the IAC website, or you may submit your own comment. Time is of the essence. The deadline for comments is November 5.

CMA Hospital Practice Forum 

The CMA has a Hospital Based Practice Forum that convenes members of hospital based specialties that consider issues and concerns unique to that mode of practice. If you have an interest in being a delegate  or serving as a representative to the CMA Commission on Legislation please review the information below and contact the CMA staff.   

Important Dates:

•          The 2013 HOD meeting will be held on October 11-13, 2013 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, CA. 
•          The Hospital Based Practice Forum will hold its next in-person annual meeting on October 10, 2013 in conjunction with the HOD meeting.

Nominations for Chair:

The CMA Hospital Based Practice Forum is seeking nominations for a new Chair of the forum.

The Chair is responsible for representing the section, helping to set the agenda and generally overseeing forum activities.  The Chair needs to be able to attend the CMA House of Delegates (HOD) meeting.    In addition, the Chair will lead quarterly conference calls of the forum members.

If you are interested in serving as the Forum Chair, please send me your CV or bio and we will distribute and discuss nominations at the next forum conference call.

Nominations for Alternate Delegates:

The forum currently has three vacancies for alternate delegates to the CMA HOD.  If you are interested in serving, please send me your bio/CV and we will discuss nominations at the next forum conference call..  Per the CMA bylaws, the HBPF Executive Committee will appoint the alternate delegates, who will serve until the next election takes place in 2014.  Alternate delegates serve a two-year term and can be re-elected for two terms.  Alternate delegates need to be able to attend the CMA HOD meeting.  The Alternate Delegates would need to attend the CMA House of Delegates (HOD) meeting. 

Nominations for Council on Legislation (COL) Representative: 

The COL representative attends the annual COL meeting in Sacramento and represents the Hospital Based Practice Forum at HOD.  Representatives speak on behalf of their forum and provide input on CMA positions on legislation.  The term of the COL representative is for one year. The tentative date for the COL meeting will be March 21, 2013 in Sacramento.

Pursuant to the existing process for designating a HBPF representative to the CMA Council on Legislation (See attached), the representative in 2013 will be a radiologist.   If you are a radiologist and are interested in serving as the COL representative, please send me your CV/bio.  We will review and select a representative at the next forum conference call.

Scheduling HBPF Conference Calls: 

I will be working with the Chair to set the schedule for HBPF conference calls for  2012-2013.  We recognize that these can be difficult to schedule, but it would be helpful to know if there are certain times that work better for the group as a whole (ex. morning (before 9 AM), noon calls (12-1), after-work (after 6), etc.)  Please let me know if you have constraints, so we can get a sense for which times are likely to encourage the most participate from forum members.  The next call will be scheduled for early December 2012.

Contact: 

Yvonne Choong, Associate Director

Center for Medical and Regulatory Policy, California Medical Association

ychoong@cmanet.org     Tel: 916-551-2884     Fax: 916-551-2044