A health care advocacy group on Thursday sued the American Medical Association in an effort to get more transparency over the association’s billing codes, which guide billions of dollars in health care payments.
Read more U.S. military has lost roughly 25% of its Reaper drones as Iran war depletes arsenal
PatientRightsAdvocate.org hopes to republish the codes online and allow the public to search them free.
The group, which has pushed for health care transparency, is challenging the AMA’s copyright over its billing-code system, known as the Current Procedural Terminology or CPT. The codes are used by Medicare and states to determine how much reimbursement physicians and other health care practitioners receive for services.
The AMA, the nation’s largest physician lobbying organization, charges licensing fees for use of its CPT codes.
“What we are seeking to do is allow them to be freely available, publishable and usable across the health care system,” Cynthia Fisher, the founder of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, said in an interview.
Read more In turnabout, Blanche lauds DOJ career staff in first speech as attorney general
She also criticized the fees that the AMA charges for the use of its codes, which generate more than $300 million per year in royalties for the AMA, based on recent data. “These fees are adding to the costs of care and coverage,” Fisher said.
Advocates, medical groups and lawmakers have long questioned the AMA’s role setting health care payments, and the Trump administration is seeking public input on whether it should stop using the AMA’s codes. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has also been investigating the AMA’s codes and whether the organization is wrongly profiting from them.
Catch up quickly every weekday morning with a rundown of the 7 most important and interesting stories. Sign up for The 7 newsletter.
Read more Graham Platner to speak at Maine rally in return to public eye
