The mission of the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute® is to establish foundational evidence for health policy and radiology practice that promotes the effective and efficient use of health care resources and improves patient care.
January 24, 2025
The winter edition includes studies on mobile mammography boosting breast cancer screening to Medicaid reimbursement challenges, workforce trends, and more! Expert spotlight featuring Rich Duszak, MD. Click on the link below to view the PDF version of our newsletter. HPI Neiman News Winter 2025 Released: January 24, 2025 Stay Informed: Subscribe to Read More
January 20, 2025
Diagnostic imaging interpretations by nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) are increasing. With hospital-based imaging overwhelmingly interpreted by radiologists, the researchers studied office-based interpretations by NPPs by their physician employer specialty. View Infographic
October 7, 2024
In this edition of the Neiman News, read about our grants program, latest policy research, and Expert Spotlight piece from our grantees Aaron Bush, MD, and Mark Waddle, MD. Didn’t receive our newsletter? Make sure to sign-up for it on the main page of our website. Click on the link below to Read More
Socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. This study aims to investigate the association between the heat vulnerability index (HVI), an established neighborhood-level metric of heat-related mortality risk, and acute ischemic stroke (AIS) severity. Full Article
Jason J. Wang, Jeffrey M. Katz, Maria X. Sanmartin, Liron D. Sinvani, Jason J. Naidich, Elizabeth Y. Rula, and Pina C. Sanelli. 2024. "Association between Heat Vulnerability Index and Stroke Severity," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
July 27, 2024
Our summer newsletter is out! Catch up on all the latest Neiman News: recent studies, project updates, and more! Highlights include contributions from Lauren Nicola, MD as our Expert Spotlight, Michal Horny, PhD, Rich Duszak, MD, Gregory Nicola, MD, and Joshua Hirsch, MD. Click on the link below to view the PDF version of our Read More
The Radiation Oncology Case Rate (ROCR) aims to shift radiation reimbursement from fee-for-service (FFS) to bundled payments, which would decouple fractionation from reimbursement in the United States. This study compares historical reimbursement rates from 3 large centers and a national Medicare sample with proposed base rates from ROCR. It also tests the impact of methodological inclusion of treatment and disease characteristics to determine if any variables are associated with greater rate differences that may lead to inequitable reimbursement. Full Article
Aaron Bush, MD, Chi-Mei Liu, PhD, Elizabeth Y. Rula, PhD, Join Luh, MD, Nathan Y. Yu, MD, Nadia Laack, MD, Albert Attia, MD, and Mark Waddle, MD. 2024. "Caught Between a Radiation Oncology Case Rate (ROCR) and a Hard Place: Improving Proposed Radiation Oncology Alternative Payment Models," International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics
Volume increases, inflation, statutory freezes in physician payments, and the budget neutrality requirement for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule have resulted in persistent inflation-adjusted conversion factor decreases. This study aimed to determine if relative value unit (RVU) volume increases on a per beneficiary basis has counteracted conversion factor decreases and inflation to maintain Medicare reimbursement per beneficiary, overall and across specialties. Full Article
Eric W. Christensen, PhD, Gregory N. Nicola, MD, Elizabeth Y. Rula, PhD, Lauren P. Nicola, MD, Joshua A. Hirsch, MD. 2024. "Medicare Volume Growth and Shift in Payments From Physicians to Non-Physician Practitioners Under Statutory Budget Neutrality," INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
The study shows that radiologists in radiology-only practices score significantly lower in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in 2021. The researchers found that radiologists in multispecialty practices score higher, but rarely report any radiology-relevant MIPS quality measures, and instead report measures relevant to other specialties. The findings were published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Full Article
YoonKyung Chung, PhD, Lauren P. Nicola, MD, Chi-Mei Liu, PhD, and Elizabeth Y. Rula, PhD. 2024. "Radiologists’ 2021 Quality Reporting and Performance in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System: Analysis by Practice Type," American Journal of Roentgenology
Medical imaging, identified as a potential driver of unsustainable US health care spending growth, was subject to policies to reduce prices and use in low-value settings. Meanwhile, the Affordable Care Act increased access to preventive services—many involving imaging—for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) beneficiaries. The researchers used a large insurance claims database to examine imaging spending trends in the ESI population between 2010 and 2021—a period of considerable policy and benefits changes. Full Article
Michal Horný, Daniel Chang, Eric W Christensen, Elizabeth Y Rula, Richard Duszak, Jr. 2024. "Decomposition of Medical Imaging Spending Growth Between 2010 and 2021 in the U.S. Employer-Insured Population (Michal Horny)," Health Affairs Scholar
This JACR study assessed individual- and neighborhood-level sociodemographic factors associating with providers’ ordering of nonpharmacologic treatments for patients with low back pain (LBP), specifically physical therapy, image-guided interventions, and lumbar surgery. Full Article
Miriam E. Peckham, MD, Lubdha M. Shah, MD, MS, Huong D. Meeks, PhD, MStat, MPH, Alison Fraser, MSPH, Carlos Galvao, BS, Ghazaleh Safazadeh, MPH, CPH, Troy A. Hutchins, MD, Yoshimi Anzai, MD, MPH, Julie M. Fritz, PhD, PT, ATC, Jacob Kean, PhD, Ruth C. Carlos, MD, MS. 2024. "Disparities in Provider Ordering Practices of Image-Guided Interventions and Surgery for Patients With Low Back Pain: A Cohort Study," Journal of American College of Radiology (JACR)