American College of Radiology

The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical society representing nearly 40,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists. The ACR has 54 chapters in the United States, Canada and the Council of Affiliated Regional Radiation Oncology Societies (CARROS). The ACR has accredited more than 39,000 medical imaging facilities in 10 imaging modalities since 1987, including: Breast MRI Breast Ultrasound Computed Tomography Mammography Magnetic Resonance Imaging Nuclear Medicine Positron Emission Tomography Radiation Oncology Practice Stereotactic Breast Biopsy Ultrasound The ACR Appropriateness Criteria (ACR AC) are evidence-based guidelines that assist referring physicians and other providers in making the most appropriate imaging or treatment decision for a specific clinical condition. The ACR AC includes 178 diagnostic imaging and interventional radiology topics with 912 clinical variants and over 1,550 clinical scenarios. ACR AC are available to all physicians via ACR Select, a module contained within CareSelect Imaging. In creating the ACR AC, the ACR Task Force on Appropriateness Criteria incorporated attributes for developing acceptable medical practice guidelines used by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as designed by the Institute of Medicine. The ACR National Radiology Data Registry (NRDR) develops benchmarks and comparisons to help imaging facilities improve quality of patient care with its collection of registries related to a range of radiological procedures. The registries include: CT Colonography (CTC) Registry Dose Index Registry (DIR) Interventional Radiology (IR) Registry General Radiology Improvement Database (GRID) Lung Cancer Screening Registry (LCSR) National Mammography Database (NMD) NRDR was approved as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for 2018 MIPS Reporting. ACR Education Center – located in Reston, VA, offers specialized mini-fellowships in more than a dozen clinical areas.