Reductions in Reimbursement and Relative Value Units for Interventional Radiology Procedures Compared with Other Specialties, 2011 to 2021

Purpose: To compare trends in reimbursement and relative value units (RVUs) for interventional radiology (IR) procedures with those performed by other physician specialties from 2011 to 2021.

Materials and Methods: Reimbursement and RVU values were obtained from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician Fee Schedule tool for the years 2011 to 2021. Twenty-eight common IR procedures were compared with different surgical and minimally invasive procedures performed by other specialties for the same or similar indications.

Results: Work RVU decreased for 20 of 28 (71.4%) IR procedures compared with 7 of 28 (25%) procedures performed by other specialties from 2011 to 2021. The average change in total reimbursement for IR procedures was -5.0% compared with 0.4% for all other specialties. The average change in work RVU was -1.9% compared with -0.2%. The average change in practice expense RVU was -17.1% compared with -11.6%. The average change in malpractice RVU was -7.3% compared with 5.7%. The differences were more drastic when compared with general surgery and its subspecialties, which experienced changes of 4.4%, 3.3%, -7.3%, and 12.5% in reimbursement, work RVU, practice expense RVU, and malpractice RVU, respectively.

Conclusions: IR procedures had higher reductions in RVUs relative to other specialties, particularly surgery. This resulted in more drastic declines in reimbursement and RVU valuation from 2011 to 2021. Interventional radiologists can use knowledge of this discrepancy in development of future payment policy.