Posts

Posted on

Cultural Competency Continuing Education Requirement

All medical imaging licensees and permit holders upon each renewal, must
complete a minimum of one hour of continuing education that meets the criteria for cultural competency education.

All renewals applied for on or after December 1st, 2021 will need to include 1- hour of Cultural Competency CE

This requirement must be completed and verification submitted to OBMI with all renewal applications. The cultural competency continuing education requirement is part of any other continuing education requirements imposed by the OBMI Board.
(1) The OBMI Board shall accept courses approved by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) under ORS 413.450.
(2) The OBMI Board may accept other courses to the extent that the course addresses attitudes and skills that enhance a licensee’s or permit holder’s ability to communicate and interact effectively with individuals across various cultures, groups and communities.

OSRT Cultural Competence Course
OBMI Cultural Competence Course
Posted on

MARCA Legislation News

MARCA will ensure that regardless of the setting in which the radiology service is performed; hospital, critical access hospital, ambulatory surgical center or any other facility setting, that services provided by a radiologist assistant supervised by a radiologist as part of a radiologist-led patient care team receive complete Medicare reimbursement.

The enactment of MARCA means greater timeliness, accuracy and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. RAs allow radiologists to devote more focused, uninterrupted time reviewing and interpreting complex medical images and providing timely diagnoses that will result in efficient, appropriate medical treatment. Patients need, and deserve, this level of care, and Medicare beneficiaries are certainly entitled to this level of care as well.

Ask federal lawmakers asking to support and cosponsor Medicare recognition of the radiologist assistant.

Send Email

Posted on

OSRT June Board Meeting Minutes

Oregon Society of Radiologic Technologists
Board Meeting Minutes

Saturday June 12th, 2021
Zoom Meeting
9:30am

Attendance

Don McDonnelBarb SmithBarb Boylan
Matt McLindenBobbi BaileyJennifer Clayton
Abbie BermanLori SahlinAmy Rouse
Sydney KasnerLindsay Harris
  • Call to Order – Lori Sahlin 9:31am
  • Introductions – Introductions from above attendees
  • Approval of Minutes – Approval of minutes from May 2021 Board Meeting
    • Motion to approve minutes Approval – Don McDonnell
    • Second motion to approve minutes – Abbie Berman
  • Strategic Planning Meeting – Abbie Berman presented the OSRT Strategic plan from the meeting that was held on June 5th. It includes, Introducing a new mission, membership development, legislative development, and management, which includes updating the policies and procedures, suggesting that a board member look at the books in a more cursory manner, tightening up the roles. These goals would be ideally farmed out to the different committees. Bobbi read a letter from Bard as he was not in attendance. We need to get/understand committee chairs to determine who is doing what to facilitate the strategic plan. Discussed the chair committees and possible change in back end and website.
  • Mammography Meeting 2021 – Bibiana sent in a report for the meeting as she was not in attendance. Matt presented the report. We had a few issues with registrants understanding how to use ZOOM and the emails that were sent out for the talks. We had to field a lot of those calls but overall, it went well. We sent a survey to the registrants; overall people we satisfied with all the talks. They are interested in doing in person meetings next year, 62% said they would be interested in doing to Bend and combining the annual meeting with the mammography meeting. A lot of people are still interested in keeping the webinar as an option. Lindsay to reach out to Bibiana to see if she would be interested in combing the meetings. Lori to look at bylaws to assure that we can combine the two meetings.
  • October Virtual Meeting 2021 – We are doing 6 credits and Abbie is going to be looking for speakers. It is scheduled for October 9th, 2021. Abbie to investigate some directed talks to help techs get some of their needed topics.
  • Annual Meeting 2022 – Meeting in Bend at Mount Bachelor, possibly to be combined with the Mammography meeting for 2022. Bobbie volunteered to be the chairperson for the annual meeting 2022.
  • ASRT SLDP Applications OPEN July 1st 2021 – Post on social media the week that application open. Hoping to get a lot of applicants.
  • Reports –
    • President – No Report
    • Vice President – No Report
    • President Elect – No Report
    • Senior Board Chair – No Report
    • Board Chair – No Report
    • Executive Administrator – Lindsay to send a check for scholarship fund to OIT, Katie already reached out. Lindsay to check schedule and get back to Barb and Susan to come to the office and clean out the OSRT office boxes.
    • Financials – Lindsay presented a profit and loss by class; the virtual meetings cause us to have better margins as the cost of doing the meetings is much lower than the cost of doing in person meetings. Lindsay to investigate the history of the membership to how it has changed the last three years. No changes on the balance sheet, the statement for the portfolio account has not come out yet
    • Student Action Committee – No Report
    • Legislative Committee – No Report
    • Website Committee – We have implemented a change log for the website. Functionality of WORDPRESS is great
    • Social Media Committee – We have surpassed 1,000 likes, please continue to send her ideas and suggestions.
  • Open Floor – ASRT Leadership Academy is accepting applications. We need to figure out a different option for drop box as it is very expensive and only allows for 3 people to access at a time. Lori, Lindsay, and Matt to research another option. Abbie and Jen to be the delegate
  • Adjourned
Posted on

Update re: House Resolution 8702

As part of the omnibus bill passed on Dec. 28, 2020, Congress substantially reduced planned Medicare payments cuts to radiology services from a proposed 10 percent reduction to 3.75 percent. The reductions will be enacted in the summer of 2021.

The move came as a result of the efforts of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, American Medical Association, American College of Radiology and other medical imaging groups that pushed for the passage of House Resolution 8702, a measure that addressed substantial Medicare reimbursement cuts planned for 2021. The original cuts would have resulted in significant decreases in payment levels for radiology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and radiation therapy procedures. 

As part of the omnibus bill, Congress will look at adjusting the Medicare reimbursement reductions for radiology services more in the future.

Contact Your Representative
Posted on

OBMI License Fee Increase

Starting 01/01/2021 the fee for a license to practice medical imaging will increase from $5 a month to $9 a month.

This licensing fee increase will be the first one in 10 years and it is necessary to stabilize the OBMI’s revenue stream after years of depleted annual financial reserves.

Become a member of OSRT to receive updates about OBMI happenings, or request important updates direclty from OBMI via their website.

What does the OBMI do?

  • The primary purpose for the Board is to uphold its mission to promote, preserve and protect the public health, safety and welfare of Oregonians who are undergoing medical imaging studies and radiation therapy performed by agency licensees and permittees.
  • The Board is dedicated to providing excellent service and support to the public, stakeholders, license and permit holders.
  • The Board provides licensees and permittees with information and support. It is solely responsible for ensuring appropriate issuance of initial and renewal licenses and permits.
  • The Board is instrumental to ensuring strict adherence to the Oregon Administrative Rules and Oregon Revised Statutes governing our members.
  • The Staff along with the technical expertise from the Board members, provide the licensees and permittees with knowledge of the medical imaging profession and support for staying in compliance with industry standards and regulations.
  • The Board maintains Category A Continuing Education offerings making Oregon one of eight states that offer approved CE required for medical imaging credentials. This enables the licensees to obtain required CE for National Credentials here in Oregon.
  • The Board approves schools that allow the opportunity for the required education for obtaining a Limited X-Ray Machine Operator and Bone Densitometry Permit. The CE requirements for Permit holders is also approved by the Board.
  • The Board approves and submits applications made by licensees and permitted for required National exams in order to practice in the field of medical imaging.
2019-20212021-20232023-20252025-2027
Beginning Balance$304,233$228,415$301,034$270,578
Revenue Fee Income$1,240,126$1,501,741$1,501,741$1,501,741
Expenditures (Personal Services and Supplies)$1,315,944$1,429,122$1,532,197$1,642,276
Ending Balance$228,415$301,034$270,578$130,043
With $4 monthly increase, and factoring in for inflation of personal and supplies
Contact the OBMI
Posted on

Support for Students

Oregon Society of Radiologic Technologists (OSRT) has a long-standing history of providing scholarships and professional development opportunities to Radiologic Science students in Oregon. These are the individuals who will be future frontline medical workers, qualified and trained to provide high quality diagnostic images to help care for patients in any given situation.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/covid19-fundraiser-for-diagnostic-imaging-students

Due to COVID-19, multiple meetings and traditional fundraising opportunities for the OSRT have been cancelled. Our Student Action Committee created this GoFundMe as a virtual fundraising campaign for our hard-working students. Funds will be used to support scholarships and professional development opportunities. Your donation will be awarded to an Oregon Radiologic Science student, including those at Portland Community College, Linn-Benton Community College, Oregon Institute of Technology, and Pioneer Pacific College.  Feel free to share the link with anyone who would like to support students in our state.  Please give generously!