CARE Bill

Upcoming Event: R.T. in D.C., March 9-11, 2008

The CARE bill would establish federal minimum standards of education and certification for personnel who perform medical imaging examinations and plan or deliver radiation therapy treatment. Currently, laws regulating these medical personnel vary widely from state to state, and nine states and the District of Columbia have no regulations at all.

Currently, 124 U.S. representatives and 22 senators have signed on as sponsors of the bill in the House and Senate.

Please make sure your senators and representatives sign on to cosponsor their respective bills. Email, call or fax your senators and let them know that as a medical dosimetrist you support the RadCARE Bill and that they should too! Log on to www.asrt.org and click on the "contact your legislator" link in the "members only" portion of the website. This will allow you to use special RadCARE Bill messages and to email your senators directly from ASRT's website. If you are unable to email your senators directly from the ASRT website, please copy and paste the RadCARE Bill messages into the "write your rep" form on your senators' web pages at www.senate.gov.

Or, if you are not an ASRT member and do not know who your representatives are, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/ to find their names and addresses (both e-mail and "snail mail"). Congress needs to hear from us that the CARE bill is an important step towards guaranteeing that all of America's patients receive safe, high-quality radiologic health.

Sample letter (taken from the ASRT website)

Dear Senator (Surname) or Dear Representative (Surname):

Most Americans take it for granted that the person taking their x-ray, performing their MRI scan, delivering their radiation therapy, or calculating radiation treatment is a competent professional. The fact is, poorly trained individuals examine, plan, and treat patients in this country every day, because there are no mandated federal standards these employees must meet.

That's why I am asking you to support an important piece of patient-care legislation. The Consumer Assurance bill of Radiologic Excellence (CARE or RadCARE) bill would establish basic educational and credentialing standards for health care personnel who perform our nation's medical imaging examinations, plan, and deliver radiation therapy procedures.

The CARE bill would amend the Consumer-Patient Radiation Health and Safety Act of 1981, which gave the states recommendations for licensing radiologic personnel. Because compliance with the 1981 Act was voluntary, only 35 states have enacted licensure laws, and many of those laws do not match the standards recommended by the federal government.

As a result, thousands of individuals with limited education are performing imaging and radiation therapy procedures on patients every day. Inadequately educated personnel pose a risk to patients, because an improperly performed procedure can lead to misdiagnosis or a delay in treatment.

Congress now has the opportunity to improve the quality of radiologic care by establishing competency standards for those who provide it. I urge you to voice your support for quality health care by cosponsoring and voting in favor of the CARE (or RadCARE) bill.

I look forward to hearing from you soon on this issue.

Sincerely,