Former Sen. Tom Daschle at SIR 2017
Former Sen. Tom Daschle discussed health care reform in the current political environment during the IR Economics, Quality and Value symposium at SIR 2017 on March 9.
Despite the current political polarization, the volume to value transformation seen in payment reforms like MACRA are here to stay, Daschle said. And interventional radiology must document that it is a specialty that is high performing and high value through delivery of better quality healthcare at a lower cost.
He also encouraged attendees to stay engaged on health reform and make use of tools that SIR provides, such as its MACRA Matters resource page, to ensure success. Innovation and collaboration—two of SIR’s pillars—along with engagement will be key to transforming the healthcare system into one that delivers value and quality results, he said.
Following Daschle’s keynote address, attendees heard about another tool to help them achieve the goal of high quality, low cost health care: the new IR Registry, developed in collaboration with the American College of Radiology.
The IR Registry will capture quality data and allow IRs to fulfill a portion of their Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting requirements under MACRA. To ease this data collection, SIR developed standardized reports that seamlessly input data into the new registry and ensure that all data collected on a procedure is comparable.
In addition to proving IR’s value, Daschle also urged members to make a personal connection to their members of Congress and congressional staff by telling the story of IR, its innovations and the people it helps.