Orlando, Fla—The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is introducing tools to help physicians determine the appropriateness of diagnostic and treatment strategies that minimize costs while maximizing care. The effort comes in an era when physicians are increasingly questioned by insurers who are unwilling to cover services they consider inappropriate.
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Easy-to-use color-coded charts are available for physicians to help them decide whether an imaging test or procedure is appropriate.
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"Appropriate use criteria" were introduced in 2005 to provide guidance for cardiovascular imaging testing. Because physicians were embracing such testing despite little evidence regarding how it should be used, insurers began requiring physicians to justify such studies before they would approve the testing—something many clinicians saw as a source of added cost and bureaucratic hassle.
Since then, the ACC, along with other medical societies, introduced appropriate use criteria for echocardiography, stress echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging, and single-photon . . . [Full Text of this Article]
