# Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2021

This bill allows Medicare to pay for services provided by radiologist assistants—specially trained technicians who work under a radiologist's supervision to help perform imaging procedures like X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. Right now, Medicare doesn't directly pay for these assistants' work, which limits how many patients can be seen and how efficiently radiology departments can operate.

Under this bill, Medicare would pay radiologist assistants at 85 percent of what it would pay a radiologist for the same service. This is similar to how Medicare already pays other types of medical assistants and technicians. The payment would go to the supervising radiologist, who would then compensate the assistant. The bill covers radiologist assistants working in hospitals, critical access hospitals (smaller rural hospitals), ambulatory surgical centers, and potentially other medical facilities. To qualify for payment, the assistant must be certified by one of two national credentialing organizations and must be working legally under their state's regulations.

For patients, this could mean faster access to imaging services and shorter wait times at radiology departments, since radiologists could see more patients with trained assistance. For healthcare providers, it creates a new revenue stream that could help them hire and retain qualified assistants. The bill doesn't change how Medicare pays for the actual imaging services themselves or how much radiologists earn when they work alone—it simply adds a new category of covered services that didn't have Medicare payment before.

Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2021

Doyle, Michael F.

Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2021 This bill provides for Medicare coverage of services that are furnished by a certified radiologist assistant under the supervision of a radiologist. Payment must be made to the supervising radiologist.