Legislative News

Lorenza Clausen ,CSRT Legislative Chair, President-Elect

HR 3652, the CARE bill, is progressing through the House of Representatives with 12 cosponsors at last count. Most are representatives from back east, including its sponsor, John Barrow (D-GA-12). Equally divided amongst Democrats (7) and Republicans (5), it is currently lacking in California sponsorship.

Over the past few months of the ongoing healthcare debate, the CARE bill failed to be amended into the House Healthcare Reform bill, passed in early November. There is still work yet to be done if it is to become a part of the healthcare reform package in the Senate and submitted to President Obama. The Congressional Budget Office has the CARE bill waiting to be scored. That score is important with regard to the cost savings or expenditures it would create. Past research has estimated that the CARE bill would save 90-100 million dollars per year from reduced repeats in imaging examinations. With the coming accreditation standards passed in 2008 for CT, MRI and Nuclear Medicine/PET, the savings will most likely be 45-50 million dollars per year for the excluded modalities of Radiography, Fluoroscopy, Ultrasound and Radiation Therapy.

The CARE bill will:

Mandate minimum standards for imaging personnel
Reduce healthcare costs while maximizing patient safety & image quality

The CARE bill is a concrete solution to part of the savings that could be realized if implemented. The goal of mandated minimum standards for imaging personnel is to reduce healthcare costs while maximizing patient safety and image quality.

As imaging professionals, we understand the value of the education and training we received during our course of study. Please contact your California representatives and Senators in Washington and urge them to support the CARE bill! Please contact the Congressional Budget Office http://www.cbo.gov/ and urge them to score HR 3652 ASAP! More information and links to our representatives’ websites can be found easily on the ASRT website http://capwiz.com/asrt/home/. Email or call your representative today!