Advocacy

Despite guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) which support CCTA as a preferred first-line test for stable and acute chest pain, resulting in a reduction in non-fatal heart attacks and cardiovascular death, CCTA is still incorrectly lumped in with non-cardiac CT, even though it includes more complexity of time, labor and materials than other imaging diagnostics.

Our efforts have consisted of writing letters to CMS, speaking to legislators and their staff members, collaborating with other medical societies, and commenting on federal coding and billing regulations. SCCT is advocating CMS use a cardiology revenue code to calculate the geometric mean cost for CCTA services for hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical center rate setting purposes. This would allow for more accurate cost estimates for the services and more appropriate APC assignments.

We need your assistance in this endeavor by requesting your representative and/or senator compel CMS to change such policies, which will not only enhance patient care, but also reduce down-stream spending.