Our AMA will:

(1) encourage and support collaborative specialty development and review of any appropriateness criteria, practice guidelines, technical standards, and accreditation programs, particularly as Congress, federal agencies and third party payers consider their use as a condition of payment, and to use the AMA Code of Ethics as the guiding code of ethics in the development of such policy;

(2) actively oppose efforts by private payers, hospitals, Congress, state legislatures, and the Administration to impose policies designed to control utilization and costs of medical services unless those policies can be proven to achieve cost savings and improve quality while not curtailing appropriate growth and without compromising patient access or quality of care;

(3) actively oppose efforts to require patients to receive imaging services at imaging centers that are mandated to require specific medical specialty supervision and support patients receiving imaging services at facilities where appropriately trained medical specialists can perform and interpret imaging services regardless of medical specialty; and

(4) actively oppose any attempts by federal and state legislators, regulatory bodies, hospitals, private and government payers, and others to restrict reimbursement for imaging procedures based on physician specialty, and continue to support the reimbursement of imaging procedures being performed and interpreted by physicians based on the proper indications for the procedure and the qualifications and training of the imaging specialists in that specific imaging technique regardless of their medical specialty.

Policy Timeline

Res. 228, A-05 Reaffirmed in lieu of Res. 901, I-05 Reaffirmation A-06 Reaffirmation I-06 Reaffirmed in lieu of Res. 125, A-07 Reaffirmation A-08 Reaffirmed: BOT Action in response to referred for decision Res. 513, A-07 Reaffirmation A-15