Twenty-four defendants, including C-suite executives from five telemedicine companies, the owners of dozens of durable medical equipment (DME) companies and three licensed medical professionals, have been charged in what the U.S. Department of Justice is calling one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes investigated by the FBI and HHS.

An April 2 story in the New York Times highlighted a potentially dangerous insurance coverage gap faced by heart transplant patients and recipients of other organs—the immunosuppressive drugs they need to prevent organ rejection sometimes aren’t covered by Medicare if they received the transplants before enrolling in the program.

Medicare recently relaxed its rules on the supervision that non-physician radiology providers must have by radiologists for their respective practices to get reimbursed. In the wake of the change, these “midlevel providers” are likely to grow in importance as well as in numbers. 

The unassailable understanding that the best way to stop Alzheimer’s disease is to diagnose it early gives radiology a strategically pivotal role now that drug companies are balking over reseahing and developing treatments. 

Occupational deregulation may be advisable for some occupations, but if states decide to abolish licensure for radiologic technologists, patients may be put in serious potential danger.

In 2017, some 60 percent of physicians reported being “not at all familiar” or “slightly familiar” with MACRA. A meager 8 percent said they were “very familiar” with the legislation. Two years later, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests the lack of understanding persists.

Radiologists are often part of multispecialty groups that participate in a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO. As a result, many radiologists are in these ACOs often without even realizing it.

Publishing direct-to-consumer pricing would allow competitive comparison of real rates. In radiology, this means getting the information to patients both directly and through ordering physicians.