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Cardiac Guidelines

July 06, 2011

In keeping with our commitment of promoting continuous quality improvement, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has an agreement with National Imaging Associates, Inc. (NIA) for outpatient imaging management services. On behalf of BlueCross, NIA handles preauthorization for certain imaging services. NIA is an independent company. This correspondence serves as notice of updates to the program.
 
NIA performs an ongoing review of our clinical guidelines to identify opportunities for improvement. As a result, a mid-year enhancement of the cardiac clinical guidelines incorporated an extensive clinical review. This included collaboration with external specialists in the field. Along with this notification, we are also including a crosswalk of the cardiac guidelines. This identifies new indications and changes in verbiage. It is our hope that the new format, which includes a crosswalk to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Appropriateness Criteria, will be easier to follow and offer clarity.
 
To find out more, view the crosswalk of cardiac guidelines.
 
You will continue to access the link on www.RadMD.com for the clinical guidelines by following these simple steps: 

  •  From a dropdown list, select the appropriate health plan. 
  •  Next, select the type of study or modality that you want to review. 
    Select the exam that is applicable. A PDF document will open to display the guideline selected.

Effective September 6, 2011 NIA will replace its current Clinical Guidelines found on www.RadMD.com with an updated, enhanced version for these guidelines:

  • CT Coronary Angiography (CCTA) 
  •  CT Heart and CT Heart Congenital (not including coronary arteries) 
  •  Heart MRI 
  •  Heart PET Scan

We appreciate your support and look forward to your assistance in assuring BlueCross members continue to receive quality diagnostic imaging services. Should you have questions, please contact your BlueCross provider education representative at 803-264-4730 or provider.education@bcbssc.com.

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