Moving into the Future of Radiology

Jacqueline A. Bello, MD, FACR, Chair of the American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Board of Chancellors (BOC), contributed this piece.

We are amid an exciting transitional period within our organization. Your BOC and Council Steering Committee (CSC) leadership are working hard to move our core values forward while supporting our larger strategic goal to empower the radiologist of the future.

The BOC and CSC met Jan. 2024, in Tysons Corner, VA, for our semi-annual retreat. We discussed several key organizational updates launching us forward into the next century, most notably the announcement of our incoming Chief Executive Officer, Dana H. Smetherman, MD, MPH, MBA, FACR, effective July 1.

We’re focused on addressing significant opportunities to positively impact ongoing advocacy and economics, governance, and workforce challenges. Here are the latest updates:

Advocacy and Economics

• We continue to prioritize advocacy on mitigating payment cuts included in the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule. Although the efforts of the ACR-led coalition of physicians and non-physicians have resulted in the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Energy and Commerce committee advancing legislation that includes a 1.25% increase to the 2024 MPFS conversion factor, more needs to be done to reduce and/or eliminate the scheduled 2024 Medicare payment cuts. We encourage all in the house of radiology to take action and contact your lawmakers now to urge Congress to stop the cut.

• In October, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new guidance in response to the August ruling in Texas Medical Association vs. United States Department of Health and Human Services that vacated several provisions of the existing No Surprises Act regulations regarding the Independent Dispute Resolution process. We continue to explore next steps in ongoing legal actions.

• CMS temporarily paused the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) appropriate use criteria (AUC) program to allow Congress to make legislative updates to facilitate implementation of the 2024 MPFS final rule. We urge providers, including radiologists, and medical practices to continue leveraging AUC-based clinical decision support exam and procedure guidance systems while this process moves forward.
  
  Governance

• The Bylaws Committee presented to the Board of Chancellors at its Winter 2024 meeting eight proposed amendments to the ACR Bylaws. These included proposed amendments to Bylaws articles on Membership; the Council and Councilors; Board of Chancellors and Commissions/Committees/Task Forces. The BOC and CSC each voted to co-sponsor all eight proposed amendments. The Council will consider and act on the proposed Bylaws resolutions during the ACR 2024 annual meeting in April in Washington, DC. ACR also received three other proposed Bylaws amendments from external stakeholders. These are from the Hawaii and California Radiological Societies; the CARROS Chapter and the CSC. Each will go to the Council in April.
  
  
• The CSC finalized sessions for the ACR 2024 Annual Meeting and discussed the new Practice Parameters and Technical Standards approval process which will be implemented during the March 12 and 14 virtual meeting, ahead of ACR 2024.

Workforce

• Looking forward, the CSC continues planning for ACR 2024 programming, which will be heavily focused on workforce, as the need for prioritization of efforts to address the challenges across Radiology’s interprofessional workforce is paramount.
  
  

It’s up to us to work together to achieve our goals and move the practice of radiology into a new century. We’re looking forward to continuing our important work and seeing many of you at ACR 2024!

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