CHICAGO – The American Medical Association (AMA) announced that Ezequiel Silva III, MD, a radiologist in San Antonio, Texas, has been appointed by the AMA Board of Trustees as the new chair of the AMA/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC).
Dr. Silva will lead the 32-member RUC committee and 300 medical advisors and other health care professionals in its work to assess the impact of advancements in science and technology on patient care and its efforts to convene expert physician insight and input that informs Medicare payment policy. His two-year term as RUC chair begins on March 1, 2021.
“The rise of the digital-native physician will have a profound impact on health care and patient outcomes, and the RUC will be increasingly called upon to assess the impact of digital health technologies on patient care.” said AMA Board Chair Russ Kridel, M.D. “Dr. Silva’s respected insights into emerging digital technologies and his leadership qualities will help guide the RUC’s vital work as a source of physician input on policies that govern Medicare.”
A member of the RUC since 2016, Dr. Silva most recently served as chair of the RUC Research Subcommittee that is responsible for the development and refinement of RUC methodology. He is also past co-chair of Digital Medicine Payment Advisory Group, a panel of experts convened by the AMA to identify barriers to digital medicine adoption.
Dr. Silva has a deep background in the relationship between medicine and economics having previously served in leadership positions on the Texas Medical Association’s Council on Socioeconomics, American College of Radiology’s Commission on Economics, and Society of Interventional Radiology’s Economics Committee. He was also a founding board member of the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, a medical imaging socioeconomic research organization.
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Silva completed medical school and residency at Baylor College of Medicine before pursuing a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
To learn more about the work being done by the RUC to focus the input of practicing physicians into important policy updates that improve the health of the nation, please visit the AMA website.
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The American Medical Association is the physicians’ powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care.
