ACR News
ACR to Offer MedPix Technology on ACR Web Site
ACR members will soon have another outstanding training and information tool at their fingertips with the addition of MedPix, a Web-based teaching compendium, to the ACR Web site. ACR officials recently signed an agreement with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to include MedPix as a key component of the ACR’s LifeLong Learning program. The MedPix material is arranged by disease category, location, captions, and patient profiles, providing a user-friendly training resource. Created in 1999, today MedPix offers more than 18,000 images from more than 4,800 peer-reviewed cases.
"The addition of MedPix's exceptional array of radiographic images will serve as an outstanding clinical evaluation tool for all ACR members," said ACR Executive Director Harvey L. Neiman, MD. "This is the latest step in the College's goal to become radiology's unparalleled leader in online education."
More details on this exciting new project will be posted on the ACR Web site as they are announced.
ACR Chair Featured in Article Highlighting Inappropriate Utilization of Medical Imaging
James P. Borgstede, MD, chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors, was featured in an April 24 San Francisco Chronicle article regarding the unsustainable cost and patient safety issues associated with inappropriate utilization of medical imaging procedures, a practice that lowers quality of care and, if not addressed, will place increasing financial burdens on American seniors and threaten the solvency of Medicare.
Borgstede addressed financially motivated inappropriate utilization of imaging in the article, stating, "We're not talking about small amounts of money here. If you look at the high-end (scans)—CT, MRI, PET—those are the ones that are growing astronomically."
"We want to take a measured approach, and we want to use an approach that solves this problem with a scalpel rather than a meat ax," Borgstede said. "We need to work with the government; we need to work with the public and with the carriers, or we're going to find them controlling the imaging."
ACR Discontinues R/F Accreditation Program
The ACR has discontinued its radiography/fluoroscopy (R/F) accreditation program and will no longer accept applications for R/F accreditation. Facilities that are already accredited for R/F will continue to be listed as "accredited" on the ACR Web site until their accreditation expires. Facilities in the testing phase may continue the accreditation process until their application is complete. If you are completing a Diagnostic Modality Accreditation Program application, please do not submit fees or paperwork for R/F as this portion of the application will not be accepted.
If you have questions or need additional information, contact Trudie Cushing at (800) 227-5463, ext 4384, or at trudiec@acr.org.