UnitedHealthcare National Imaging Accreditation Program Extended

Last year, UnitedHealthcare(UHC) announced a new quality initiative that recognized the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) standards and enlisted their expertise in facilitating accreditation. UnitedHealthcare provided notice at that time of their intent to incorporate these accreditation requirements into their outpatient reimbursement policy and set a date for March 1, 2008, as the date that freestanding radiology facilities and physician offices that use a CMS 1500 claim form and are performing CT, CTA, MRI, MRA, PET, Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology and Echocardiography outpatient imaging studies to obtain accreditation as a condition for reimbursement.

Based upon physician input and feedback, UnitedHealthcare has decided that the imaging accreditation implementation date affecting reimbursement will be extended from its original March 1, 2008 effective date to the third quarter of 2008. This decision was based, in part, on a telephone survey UHC conducted in November & December 2007. UHC will notify all free standing radiology providers and physician’s offices performing these advance imaging service a minimum of 30 days before accreditation becomes effective in their area, or as otherwise required by regulation. Additional information about the imaging accreditation initiative is available online www.UnitedHealthcareOnline.com 

If you have specific questions about the application process for accreditation, contact the ACR at www.acr.org  or 1-800-770-0145 or the IAC at www.intersocietal.org or 1-800-838-2110. For general questions about the UnitedHealthcare accreditation initiative, call 1-800-637-5792 .