(Montreal) Quebec has reached an agreement with radiologists about billing for cortisone infiltrations, allowing the resumption of this treatment in several medical imaging laboratories which had stopped offering it for several months.
Posted at 12:02 p.m.
The Association of Quebec Radiologists (ARQ) confirmed that an agreement had been reached at the beginning of July between the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec.
She also mentioned that the infiltration services under fluoroscopy which had been suspended have resumed. This treatment involves injecting cortisone into the joints to relieve pain and inflammation in patients with joint problems.
Several clinics had decided to partially or completely stop this medical act because of a dispute with the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) following a control exercise on medical remuneration.
The RAMQ had a different reading of a billing code concerning the reimbursement of equipment, rent and staff costs that clinic owners must pay to offer the injections, according to the ARQ.
The new interpretation affecting some forty clinics could lead to losses for some if they had always offered treatment at the same rate, argued the association.
The agreement with Quebec now includes a “technical component” allowing medical imaging laboratories to be reimbursed for these costs, “just like for other radiology examinations and procedures”, explains the ARQ by email.
The RAMQ audits also resulted in retroactive claims of several million dollars from approximately 180 radiologists for a period ranging from 2017 to 2019. These sums are disputed by the radiologists.
This dispute remains to be settled, indicates the ARQ which does not exclude the possibility of appealing to the Administrative Labor Tribunal.
In Quebec, approximately 70,000 infiltrations under fluoroscopy are performed each year in radiology clinics.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.