The ACR thanks members who participated in the American Medical Association (AMA) Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) surveys last month. Your input helps us defend the value of rheumatology and ensure that coding reflects the time and intensity required to perform rheumatology services. We recognize that this process takes time from your day-to-day work, but it is vital to the future of our specialty not to let other specialties dictate how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) or other third-party payers value relevant codes when it comes to reimbursement.
By completing the surveys, you played an important role in helping the ACR and RUC recommend accurate relative values for physician work and direct practice expense for important codes such as Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) 76881 –ultrasound, complete joint (ie, joint space and periarticular soft-tissue structures) real-time with image documentation to the CMS for calendar year 2023.
The ACR CPT and RUC advisors continue to work with the AMA on the evaluation of services that affect the rheumatology community, and they rely heavily on the expertise of our practicing members to provide input on services performed in daily patient care. If you are invited to participate in a future AMA RUC survey, we hope that you will again take time to participate and contribute to the accurate valuation of rheumatology services.
For questions on the relative value (RVU) or RUC process, contact ACR Director of Practice Management Antanya Chung at [email protected] or 404-633-3777 x818.
