How SIR’s Economics Division works for you As a member of SIR, you benefit from the work that SIR staff and member- volunteers undertake in suggesting new CPT codes and helping to value approved codes. Through RUC surveys and other data collections shared with you as an SIR member, you directly influence the AMA RUC recommendations to CMS on the physician work RVUs and direct practice expense inputs for Category I codes. This helps maintain access to care, protects IR reimbursement and increases the likelihood that CMS will adopt our RUC recommendations.
Did you know SIR’s Quality and Performance Improvement Division stewards 4 MIPS measures?
to the Quality Payment Program and its component participation methods—the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs). The rule includes adding a proposed interventional radiology MIPS Value Pathway (MVP), which would create a new reporting framework for IR as part of MIPS.
The IR MVP is a specialty-specific pathway proposed for performance year 2026 meant to streamline quality reporting by focusing on clinically relevant measures for IRs. The current proposed IR MVP includes 11 quality measures, 10 improvement activity measures, and 3 cost measures for IRs to select from. Of these available measures, only three are broadly applicable across the specialty and the rest primarily apply to IRs who subspecialize in areas such as stroke, dialysis access, venous services and women’s health.
SIR previously sent a letter during the public comment period in January 2025 opposing this proposal and SIR remains concerned that the MVP does not adequately reflect the diversity and highly subspecialized nature of
30 IRQ | SUMMER 2025
As a member of SIR, you benefit from the work that SIR staff and member-volunteers undertake in suggesting new CPT codes and helping to value approved codes.
IR. SIR believes the measure set is too narrow, making it difficult for many IRs to participate meaningfully without undue burden.
The exclusion of broadly applicable quality measures and the reliance on cost measures that do not fairly represent IR contributions further limit the feasibility of this MVP. SIR will provide CMS feedback through the comment process to ensure the MVP evolves into a more inclusive and practical framework that truly supports quality improvement and value-based care across the full spectrum of IR practice.
SIR members benefit from the work that SIR staff and member-volunteers in the Quality and Performance Improvement Division undertake with CMS’s Quality Payment Program to help ensure the benchmarks you are measured against are accurate and relevant to your practice. In collaboration with CMS, SIR develops, maintains, and advocates for the inclusion of quality measures so that IR practices are assessed fairly and meaningfully. Through this stewardship, IR physicians are measured using metrics that reflect the quality of care they deliver, minimize unnecessary administrative burden, and promote ongoing improvement in clinical outcomes.
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