Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:
In 2014, Congress passed the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act” (PAMA), establishing the
Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program for advanced diagnostic imaging. Six years later, AUC
Program implementation is at a standstill. The undersigned organizations ask Congress to pass before
the end of this year a statutory delay of the program, which will allow for a thoughtful and long overdue
re-examination of the program.
Physicians led the way with the development of AUC for diagnostic imaging, and they continue to
advocate for its use. Although Congress may have believed that the AUC Program was a straightforward approach to encourage the use of AUC by clinicians who order advanced imaging tests, the
truth is the law is mired in complexity and has always faced implementation challenges. The result is a
now outdated program — particularly with subsequent passage of the Medicare Access and Children’s
Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and the rise of new health care payment and
delivery models, including those that hold clinicians responsible for health care resource use.
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