CMS lowered work values for 52% of interventional radiology codes and 28% of diagnostic radiology codes versus initial society asks

Medicare lowered work values for 52% of interventional radiology codes and 28% of diagnostic radiology codes compared with radiology societies' initial asks per JAMA Network Open; diagnostic radiology median cut 17%.

• The RUC devalued initial radiology society proposals 29% of the time for interventional radiology and 12% for diagnostic radiology; CMS then devalued RUC-proposed valuations 33% for IR and 24% for DR.
• For interventional radiology, the median adjustment from specialty society to final CMS recommendation was -5.6% (range -0.7% to -14.7%); diagnostic radiology saw a median -17% (range -7.6% to -66.9%).
• CMS often cited site-of-service anomalies, clinical review findings, and identification of clinically similar procedures for crosswalk when reducing valuations.

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