What Does the ACR Do for Me?


At every stage of your career — from residency through retirement — the American College of Radiology works to expand your opportunities, safeguard your future, maintain uncompromised standards, push the frontiers of education and clinical research, and ensure that radiology's voice is heard on Capitol Hill and in the nation's state houses. For 87 years, the ACR has been the recognized voice for imaging professionals and a tireless champion of patient safety.

While our mission is broad and complex, our commitment to our membership of more than 34,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, and clinical medical physicists is simple. We exist to provide you with the professional, educational, and informational tools you need to uphold radiology's position in today's increasingly challenging health care environment.

That said — exactly what does the ACR do for you? Here are some of the College's responsibilities and successes on your behalf:

Advocacy

The ACR's government relations team continues to make major strides in addressing key issues in the federal and state arenas. The government relations team is your eyes, ears, and voice in Washington, DC.

ACR's most recent advocacy efforts have been dedicated to ensuring that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, commonly referred to as the “Super Committee,” does not develop a legislative product that includes cuts to diagnostic imaging.  In addition, the government relations team, working in tandem with the economics and health policy department, has waged an aggressive lobbying and grassroots campaign to block attempts by the federal government to impose a multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) to the professional component of advanced diagnostic imaging services. In fact, in June 2011, 61 bipartisan Members of Congress signed a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees expressing opposition to the application of an MPPR to the professional component either through legislation or regulation.

Earlier this year, the government relations staff, along with the ACR co-founded Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC), persuaded Members of Congress to abandon attempts to increase the equipment utilization assumption rate.  Lawmakers sought to impose this harmful reduction in reimbursement for the technical component of advanced diagnostic imaging as a way to offset the cost of a federal program, entitled Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which assuages the impact of a forthcoming free trade agreement with South Korea on displaced workers. 

ACR's coalition efforts also extend to the issues of combating physician self-referral and promoting the use of appropriateness criteria. The government relations staff is working closely with the Alliance for Integrity in Medicare (AIM) to remove advanced diagnostic imaging from the in-office ancillary services exception within the Stark self-referral law. In addition, ACR is an active participant in the e-Ordering Coalition and is committed to passing legislation which would incentivize the use of clinical decision support systems.

RADPAC ®, the Political arm of the ACR Association™, collected a one-year record of $1,211,977 in 2010. ACR also teamed with various State Chapter Presidents to address disparate state legislative issues, including physician self-referral, certificate of need, teleradiology, tort reform, and recognition of radiologist assistants.

Economics and Health Policy

The Commission on Economics is ACR/ACRa's primary resource for medical socioeconomics. The Commission collects, analyzes, and disseminates information on all facets of economic issues relevant to the practice of radiology, interventional radiology, radiation oncology, nuclear medicine and medical physics. The Commission on Economics focuses its activities on coding, surveying and presenting data to develop relative values, national and local coverage policy, regulation, private and public payer relations and the development of educational resources for the membership. Acting upon input from the membership and in reaction to changes affecting radiology, the Commission prepares statements, studies, and gives presentations, etc., on issues within its purview with the support of its economics committees and other specialty commissions. The Commission's work product often is used as background material and evidence for ACRa's Congressional and State legislative efforts as well as communications with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), policy makers and other medical insurers.

Quality and Safety

Guidelines and Technical Standards: To help advance the science of radiology and to improve the quality of service to patients throughout the United States, the ACR has established more than 170 practice guidelines and technical standards. These guidelines and technical standards are used by radiologists, hospitals, healthcare professionals, and other stakeholders to improve the delivery of imaging, radiation therapy, and interventional services. More than 500 medical specialists carry out this exhaustive, meticulous review cycle at least every five years.

Accreditation: To date, the ACR has established nine accreditation programs. The ACR is one of three accrediting organizations approved by Medicare under the Medicare Improvments for Patinets and Providers Act (MIPPA) that requires all providers of MRI, CT, Nuclear Medicne and PET who bill for the technical component under the Medicare Fee Schedule to be accredited by January 1, 2012.  Other third party payers and state governmental bodies also recognize the excellence of ACR accreditation programs.

Appropriateness Criteria®: Through our expert panels in diagnostic imaging, interventional radiology, and radiation oncology, the ACR has developed more than 170 sets of evidence-based guidelines to assist referring physicians and other providers in making the most appropriate imaging or treatment decision. Increasingly, third-party payers and software vendors recognize the value of this tool. The Appropriateness Criteria also enhance quality-of-care decisions; contribute to the most efficacious use of radiology; help providers deal with issues of overutlization of radiological care, and soon will provide information on appropriate radiation dose.

Education

In June 2006, the College enhanced its reputation as a leader in radiologic education by cutting the virtual ribbon to The ACR Campus™. Accessible worldwide 24 hours a day (http://campus.acr.org), this online education program offers world-class lecturers and content on a host of leading-edge topics in medical imaging. The convenient Web-based learning format allows participants to sharpen skills and meet educational requirements — from the convenience of a computer, at their own pace. Among the highlights of The ACR Campus™:

  • ACR Campus Web Lectures: Renowned lecturers focus on radiology subspecialties and technologies in a modality-based online learning experience.  Subjects range from breast imaging to neuro and GI radiology. Key features of the Web Lectures include the Cardiac Lecture Series: Basic, Grand Rounds Lecture Series, OB Ultrasound Lecture Series, and The Society for Pediatric Radiology Postgraduate Course Lecture Series. Among the upcoming offerings is the ACR's Ultrasound Symposium Lectures, presented by the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital faculty, whose 17 lectures will cover basic ultrasound imaging.
  • The Waiting Room: This series offers participants challenging breast radiology cases from a virtual waiting-room setting.
  • Doctor Challenger: This case-based learning opportunity focuses on the critical area of chest radiology, allowing participants to sharpen their skills through a virtual competition with a fictional "opponent."
  • On-site Courses: The ACR continues to offer a full platform of needs- and evidence-based live meetings and seminars, which are designed for maximum interaction with peers and experts,while earning valuable continuing medical education and maintenance of certification credits. Courses include: Cardiac CT: Supervised Case Review; Second Annual Body MRI Update; Pay for Performance; Oncologic Imaging and Image-Guided Interventions; and Cardiac CT and MR: Supervised Case Review.
  • Case in Point: Thousands of ACR members access Case in Point daily to enhance their knowledge and hone their diagnostic skills by reviewing cases received from experts across the country. Due to the demand for case-based learning activities that also offer CME credits, members can claim credit for participating in Case in Point.

Clinical Research

The ACR, via its research entities headquartered in the College's Philadelphia office, helps advance medical research and improve patient care by facilitating state-of-the art clinical trials recognized throughout the world. At the forefront of the ACR's research are the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN®), the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG®), and the Quality Research in Radiation Oncology (Q-RRO™) project.

ACRIN: Following the 2005 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) article on the landmark DMIST, digital mammography trial, ACRIN continues to make important research contributions. Also reported in the NEJM, the MRI of the Contralateral Breast trial provided important clinical guidance regarding comprehensive breast cancer detection. Other high-profile trials, such as the National CT Colonography Trial and trials evaluating the use of imaging as a biomarker, establish ACRIN as a premier cancer research network.

The May 2006 launch of National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) under ACRIN/ACR management has led to the acquisition of PET data on more than 35,000 patients from more than 1,400 PET facilities and affords Medicare beneficiaries PET scan coverage for nearly all types of cancer. The ACRIN Fund for Imaging Innovation has been very successful to date and is now poised to expand ACRIN's flourishing research agenda.

RTOG: Today, RTOG is among the world's most respected oncologic health-care research organizations, boasting more than 260 academic and community-based facilities throughout North America and internationally that participate in an ever-growing series of significant protocols. RTOG continues to evaluate the latest forms of radiotherapy delivery and new systemic therapies in conjunction with radiotherapy, with the goal of increasing the lifespan and quality of life of patients diagnosed with cancer. RTOG maintains dozens of active studies and recently launched the first-ever international brain tumor trial coordinated by an American organization.

Q-RRO: The Q-RRO project continues research from its multiyear National Cancer Institute funding grant, to assess the quality of radiation oncology delivery in the United States. Q-RRO evolved from the Patterns of Care Study and included a shift in emphasis toward measurement of quality of care. A related project, the Wisconsin Cancer Registry Evaluation (WI CaRE), receives funding assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is the ACR's first research effort using state cancer registry data and the College's first CDC-funded project.