President's Message 6/18/2004
June 18, 2004
Dear members:
I would like to introduce myself as the new president of the Indiana Radiological Society, having succeeded Dr. Scott Miller. The Society owes a large debt of gratitude to Scott for all of the time and effort he has contributed on its behalf during this past year.
I am a general diagnostic radiologist and a solo practitioner. I have practiced in Greensburg, Indiana for 19 years. I have served as an Alternate councilor to the American College of Radiology and I have been an officer of the Indiana Radiological Society for the past three years. I look forward to my term as President.
The Indiana Radiological Society has been very active in a number of important activities which affect each of us as practicing radiologists. Presently a top priority is to attempt to curb the rising tide of self-referral imaging performed by non-radiologists. This threatens the very essence of the future of our profession. As we all know, the dramatic rise in health care costs associated with the explosion of imaging procedures is largely due to the acquisition of imaging equipment by non-radiologists. These physicians not only capture the technical fees for the exams they order, but they also often capture all or part of the professional fees as well by reading their own examinations or controlling the reimbursement to contracted radiologists. This is a very critical and complicated issue for which there are conflicts with both the ISMA and the AMA for obvious reasons. However many of our members have been quite involved in working on this issue with the ACR and in bringing this issue to the attention of payers and legislators. Dr. Ken Kopecky has been working diligently on an Indiana anti-self-referral bill and I encourage each of you to become involved and offer your support.
Indiana was well represented at the ACR Meeting held in Washington, D.C. from May 8-13, with 13 members, including 2 residents-in-training, attending. The Indiana Delegation spent an entire day on Capitol Hill. They visited the offices of Senators Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh and they also visited the offices of all of the Indiana members of congress. The delegation spoke about three issues:
- Medicare's Physician Conversion Factor: The ACR supports passage of legislation to revise and stabilize the Medicare Conversion Factor update formula.
- Medical Liability Reform: The ACR supports legislation that caps non economic damages at a rate that significantly reduces medical liability premiums.
- Physician Self-referral: The ACR supports legislation that limits self-referral for medical diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy.
Please visit the ACR Web site at www.acr.org to find complete minutes of the meeting. The AMCLC Executive Director's Report written by Dr. Harvey Neiman can also be found on the ACR home page and this report provides an excellent summary of the activities of the college during the past year.
The spring meeting of the Indiana Radiological Society was held April 17, 204 at the Skyline Club in Indianapolis. As part of our concerted effort to become more politically active, we welcomed guest 4th district Congressman Steve Buyer and his wife Joni. Dr. Kopecky provided background information and spoke about the importance of the self-referral issue and its impact on radiologists and health care costs. Congressman Buyer fielded questions from the membership. The business meeting was followed by a reception, dinner, and presentation by Congressman Buyer.
I urge all of you to become actively involved in the Indiana Radiological Society. As radiologists we are faced with increasing numbers of important issues. Turf battles, low reimbursement and malpractice liability are just some of the complex problems that threaten our practices and our profession. Your society is working hard for you and your personal involvement is crucial to our success. For current society information, check our Web site at www.inrad.org and click on the second listing. I look forward to seeing you at our fall meeting.
Sincerely,
Barbara E. Taylor MD
President, Indiana Radiological Society