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In fact, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) helps make prevention affordable and accessible for all Americans by requiring health plans to cover preventive services and by eliminating cost-sharing. Preventive services that have strong scientific evidence of their health benefits must be covered and plans can no longer charge a patient a co-payment, coinsurance or deductible for these services when they are delivered by a network provider.

While United States law prohibits physicians from referring patients to providers with whom they have a financial relationship, ancillary services provided in the same facility — such as in-house x-ray services — are a legal exception to this rule. The ACA expands requirements for referral to “in-house ancillary services” by requiring physicians to provide patients with a disclosure stating that similar services are available elsewhere, as well as a list of nearby providers. Stand-alone radiology providers like Fox Valley Imaging may, as a result, see an increase in their patient numbers.