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Basic Facts

The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical organization composed of diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists. The ACR is dedicated to providing quality patient care by:

• Refining and improving techniques and training and encouraging improved continuing education for radiologists and allied professional fields
• Advancing the science of radiology through research and innovation
• Accrediting radiology facilities nationwide and ensuring that quality and safety standards are upheld
• Studying and positively influencing the socioeconomic aspects of the practice of radiology
• Serving as the "voice of radiology" by supporting ACR members through government relations and economic efforts to ensure that current laws and regulations allow our members to provide the safest, most effective care possible

ACR Membership

• 32,000 members
• 54 chapters (50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Puerto Rico, and CARROS)
• ACR members performed approximately 200 million imaging procedures (diagnostic and interventional) in 2003 (70% of the imaging procedures performed by all radiologists).

Quality and Safety Initiatives

• The ACR has accredited more than 14,000 facilities.
• The ACR mammography accreditation program is the only nationwide accreditation program recognized under the federal Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992.
• The ACR has developed more than 100 practice guidelines and technical standards and nine accreditation programs:
  1. Mammography
  2. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  3. Ultrasound (general, obstetrics, vascular, and gynecological)
  4. Stereotactic breast biopsy
  5. Breast ultrasound and biopsy
  6. Nuclear medicine (including positron emission tomography, or PET)
  7. Radiation oncology
  8. CT (computed tomography)
  9. Radiography and fluoroscopy (including chest X-ray)

Government Relations

• The ACRa—the American College of Radiology Association—is radiology's advocacy arm, dedicated to strengthening the profession's outreach to Congress, state governments, and state and federal agencies on a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues. All members are members of both the ACR and the ACRa.
• The ACRa's political action committee, RADPAC, is the second largest medical specialty PAC and the fifth largest health professional PAC.

Clinical Research

• The ACR is the leading radiology organization and among the top US health care organizations in terms of federally funded clinical research. ACR clinical research affiliates, the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and the Patterns of Care Study in radiation oncology (PCS), receive over $40 million annually in research grants from the National Institutes of Health.
• For more than 35 years, RTOG research has defined new national standards of care for patients with brain, lung, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, breast, and cervical cancer. The RTOG has activated 270 protocols, accrued over 40,000 patients, and maintained a roster of 40 active protocols for its 250 member institutions. For more information, see the RTOG Web site at www.rtog.org.
• ACRIN has developed 21 clinical trials related to diagnostic imaging and image-guided therapeutics, including 2 landmark screening trials: the Digital Mammography Screening Trial (DMIST), which recruited 49,000 participants, and the Contemporary Screening for the Detection of Lung Cancer Trial, which contributed nearly 20,000 patients to the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). For more information, see the ACRIN Web site at www.acrin.org.
• Founded in 1973, the PCS seeks to improve the quality of radiation therapy care delivered to cancer patients throughout the United States by conducting surveys of the structure, process, and outcomes of care for patients treated with radiation therapy. For more information, see the PCS Web site at www.pcs-acr.org.

Economics

The ACR is responsible for radiology reimbursement and coding issues including relative value units, CPT-4 coding, managed care, and Medicare regulations.

Publications

• Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR)—published monthly, focuses on practice management, clinical practice, health services, research, policy, and education
• ACR Bulletin— bi-monthly publication on key trends and issues as well as chapter events
• ACR Advocate—quarterly newsletter highlighting ACR governmental and health policy activities and initiatives

ACR members are available to speak on every aspect of radiological medicine including, but not limited to:

Offices

• Reston, Va .(national headquarters)
• Washington, D.C. (government relations)
• Philadelphia, Pa. (clinical research)

For more information about the ACR and its programs, please contact ACR Public Relations Manager Shawn Farley directly at 703-648-8936, or via e-mail at sfarley@acr.org.