June 22, 2016, Reston, Va. – The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) has been named a qualified provider-led entity (PLE) under the Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria program for advanced diagnostic imaging. This will allow referring physicians to use SNMMI’s appropriate use criteria (AUC) to fulfill the requirements of the 2014 Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA).
PAMA requires referring physicians to consult appropriate use criteria developed by a PLE in order to ensure cost-effective and appropriate utilization of advanced diagnostic imaging services (ADIS). The legislation requires the delivery of these criteria via a clinical decision support tool, which referring physicians would need to utilize when ordering ADIS. The AUC requirements were originally due to launch by January 2017; however, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is now expected to publish more substantive information on the development of clinical decision support tools, which will delay the implementation deadline by at least a year.
Quality of care is SNMMI’s top priority, and the society is committed to developing a comprehensive library of multidisciplinary, evidence-based AUC for high-value nuclear medicine procedures. It is currently finishing development of AUC for bone scintigraphy in malignant disease, ventilation perfusion imaging in pulmonary embolism, hepatobiliary scintigraphy in abdominal pain, PET/CT in restaging of malignant diseases. Development of six additional AUC has been started, including prostate cancer imaging, myocardial perfusion imaging with PET, somatostatin imaging, infection imaging, nuclear medicine procedures for thyroid cancer and gastrointestinal transit.
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About the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to raising public awareness about nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, a vital element of today’s medical practice that adds an additional dimension to diagnosis, changing the way common and devastating diseases are understood and treated and helping provide patients with the best health care possible.
SNMMI’s 17,000 members set the standard for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine practice by creating guidelines, sharing information through journals and meetings and leading advocacy on key issues that affect molecular imaging and therapy research and practice. For more information, visit www.snmmi.org.
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