Below are three of the prominent resolutions that the American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Council passed during the ACR 2024 Annual Meeting. A complete list of resolutions passed will be made available on ACR.org in the coming weeks.
ACR Council Votes to Slightly Realign Member Dues after Eight-Year Freeze
To fortify the ACR’s long-term ability to advocate for its 40,000 members and their patients, the 380-member ACR Council – each elected or selected by their ACR chapter, section, medical society, military branch or government agency - voted to update active national physician member dues by $90 per year starting in 2025. This is the first dues adjustment in nearly a decade. The increase for young physicians and medical physicists will be even lower.
Despite a significant expansion in member services, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly increasing inflation, and the resulting rise in the cost of providing vital services, including legislative, regulatory and economic advocacy, ACR dues have remained unchanged since 2016.
As the Voice of Radiology to lawmakers, regulators and decisionmakers, the ACR has a unique mission and complex scope of operations. This dues adjustment is part of a transparent, ACR-member volunteer-led reevaluation of ACR programs, services and workforce that will continue to empower the ACR “To be the voice of our members, empowering them to advance the science and practice of radiological care.”
ACR Reaffirms Support for Registered Radiologist Assistant
To improve access to radiologic care, the ACR Council voted to reaffirm recognition of the Registered Radiologist Assistant (RRA) as a valuable member of radiologist-led care teams. ACR was a founding organization that created the RRA profession to meet increased patient demand and a shortage of radiologists.
• The RRA supports the goals for optimal access to radiology services for all patients and for alleviating increasing workloads.
• ACR will support member practices with RRAs to practice according to their education, clinical training and certification, to the extent consistent with current and future roles and responsibilities statements, certification requirements, and standards of ethics collaboratively developed with the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists.
The RRA is a master’s degree level allied health professional focused solely on medical imaging, who has worked with radiologists since starting education as a radiographer, and whose clinical RRA education was completed under the preceptorship of a radiologist.
ACR collaborates with the ARRT in determining appropriate scope of practice and required competencies for RRAs by appointing radiologists as representatives of the ACR and the radiologist community to all ARRT committees involved with the RRA examination.
Supporting Women’s Access to All Essential Components of Reproductive Healthcare
The ACR Council voted to affirm that there is broad medical consensus from over 75 national medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the American Board of Surgery that abortion is an essential component of reproductive healthcare.
The Council also affirmed the value and need for access to abortion as an evidence-based medical care option, as established by nationally accepted standards of care according to nationally recognized professional practice guidelines, and within the full scope of a physician’s training and professional judgment.