Cardiovascular Business - September/October 2008 - (Page 30) Payor Watch New York and New Jersey were among the first private insurers to address accreditation requirements for physicians performing diagnostic cardiac imaging. Tufts Health Plan in Massachusetts and Humana Kentucky also inaugurated program requirements in the past few years. Highmark requires that echocardiogSacramento, CA NURSE MANAGER INVASIVE CARDIOLOGY SERVICES Salary Range: $77,748 - $132,168/yr Responsible for planning, directing and coordinating activities for the UCDMC Cardiac Catheterization, Electrophysiology Laboratories and Cardiovascular Center Labs. This individual has twenty four (24) hour accountability for two (2) Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, two (2) Electrophysiology Laboratories, one (1) Vascular Access Procedures Lab, and a 9 bed observation unit. Responsibilities include patient care management, and professional staff development. In addition, the Cardiology Invasive Labs Manager has divisional responsibilities for future planning and performance improvement projects related to the Heart and Vascular Centers invasive services programs. UCDHS, Sacramento is located in No. California with easy access to Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley and SF Bay area. We offer competitive salary & an excellent benefit package. For more information - Please visit our website: www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr Job Req.# 021390 or contact HR/Nurse Recruitment 916/734-2742 or 1-800/527-1564 EOE/M/F/DIV raphy, MRI, nuclear cardiology, peripheral ultrasound and PET services for its beneficiaries must be conducted in accredited facilities, or those in the process of receiving accreditation, from the ACR or the IAC. More than 25 percent of the services, approximately 325 facilities, applied for accreditation after it became a requirement by the payor. Last year, United Healthcare announced mandatory accreditation by IAC or ACR for echocardiography, nuclear medicine and nuclear cardiology, PET, MRI and CT for reimbursement for these services conducted on its estimated 50 million members by March 1, 2008. The company recently extended that deadline to the fourth quarter of 2009 to give their providers more time to comply with the accreditation requirement. Recently, Senate legislation (S. 3101) contained an ACR-backed imaging utilization provision that calls for providers of advanced diagnostic imaging services (MR, CT, PET and nuclear medicine) to be accredited by 2012 to receive payment from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the technical component of those services. The original bill, which was introduced on June 6 this year, failed to garner the necessary 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on debate and moved to a vote by a tally of 54-39. However, the House overwhelmingly passed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331) on June 24, 2008, by a tally of 355-59. The legislation is similar to the Senate measure, but addresses significant points of concern that had been raised at the time by Senate Republicans. The legislation also calls for providers of advanced diagnostic imaging services to be accredited to receive payment for the technical component of those services and establishes a two-year voluntary demonstration program to test the use of physician developed appropriateness criteria. not ‘if’, but ‘when’ These actions by private and public healthcare payors are a clear indication that mandatory accreditation of cardiac imaging facilities and personnel is no longer a question of if, but rather of when. As such, savvy cardiovascular administrators and business managers who have not yet accredited their facilities would be prudent in developing an accreditation strategy for their practice. Once accredited by an IAC organization or ACR, a facility is approved to promote that designation to the public and its referring physician base. “If a facility is not accredited, I think it does give [consumers] pause,” notes John R. Florio, executive director of cardiovascular services at the University of Kansas Hospital, in Kansas City, Kan. “There are a number of ways that people get to your doors, and the public is becoming more educated, even if they don’t understand all of it. Physicians in the community form an opinion as well if a hospital’s not doing a good job. They have lots of other choices where they can practice.” 30 cardiovascular Business September/october 2008 http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr
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