Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:
The undersigned organizations applaud the swift action by Congress on passage of an emergency
supplemental spending bill to address the most urgent COVID-19 response needs. While physician
practices are doing their best to continue to provide as close as possible to business as usual, physician
practices are already feeling the strain of staffing shortages and adjustments to workflow. Physicians are
working to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and appreciate the support and regulatory flexibility they
have received from Congress and the Administration thus far, including relaxation of telemedicine
guidelines, to provide patient care under the safest of possible environments. As you consider other steps
to reduce regulatory burden and costs on physician practices, we respectfully request that you suspend
further implementation of the Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program for advanced
diagnostic imaging.
The AUC Program is currently in an Educational and Operations Testing Period, during which the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has made clear there are no payment consequences
associated with the AUC program. We are concerned that ongoing promotion by vendors of AUC
clinical decision support (CDS) tools and the overlapping confusion by physicians and other clinicians
about AUC requirements will have inordinate consequences for physicians and other clinicians.
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