Looser CMS guidelines good for imaging community, expert says

CMS has loosened restrictions on supervisory requirements for some hospital technicians, including those who prepare radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine. HemOnc Today editorial board member and chairperson of the government relations committee for the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Munir Ghesani, MD, says the changes are a positive step forward for those in the field of imaging or those who rely on those services for cancer and other treatment.

“The Society of Nuclear Medicine whole-heartedly supports this change that was proposed,” Ghesani said in an interview. “We were pleasantly surprised when the ruling came,” he said, and added that the society has been lobbying for the change for about a year and a half.

Ghesani told HemOnc Today that in most fields, the person doing the supervising is more skilled and experienced than the person being supervised, but with radiopharmaceutical technicians, that is not the case. He said the people who prepare radiopharmaceuticals are highly skilled at their very specialized work and know more about their work than most supervising physicians would.

“I won’t be as good at it, because they do it day in and day out,” he explained.

The changes should free up onsite physicians for more important work and, ultimately, reduce costs for patients without compromising the quality of care, according to CMS.

“This rule helps health care providers to operate more efficiently by getting rid of regulations that are out of date or no longer needed. Many of the rule’s provisions streamline health and safety standards health care providers must meet in order to participate in Medicare and Medicaid,” CMS stated in a press release.

Ghesani said that in his years of serving on the government relations board, he has seen improvements recently in the way government agencies, including CMS and the FDA, work with stakeholders to refine existing rules.

“I have been seeing that, on many levels, they have become more proactive,” Ghesani said. “I have a feeling they see that, with the Affordable Care Act and the way things have gone, they know they are under closer scrutiny from the public and the media, and secondly, that it is in their best interest to have the experts on their side when they are making decisions.”

Ghesani said the loosened restrictions are a good first step, but that more can be done.

“We have a few more items on out agenda we are taking to several government agencies.” – by Shirley Pulawski