Philip S. Cook, MD, FACR, FSIR, Chair, American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Interventional Radiology Core Privileges Oversight Committee, and Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, FACR, FSIR, Chair, ACR Commission on Interventional and Cardiovascular Radiology, contributed this post.
The ACR Interventional Credentials Overview Committee was created in June 2017 to address the desire of radiologists to use the core privileging process for image-guided procedures.
Since 2019, the ACR has advocated for and supports the use of the core privileging process. More specifically, the ACR encourages the use of the core privileging process by diagnostic and interventional radiologists for image-guided procedures rather than having to document the volume and specific numbers of procedures to obtain privileges for multiple, different but related, procedures. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Emergency Physicians and Society for Vascular Surgery currently advocate for core privileges for their respective specialties.
Privileges are granted by hospitals or healthcare systems to providers who are appropriately credentialed, a process that is variable from institution to institution. To facilitate core privileging, the ACR Commission on Interventional and Cardiovascular Radiology created the Core Privileging Library as a tool to help institutions and diagnostic and interventional radiologists implement an image-guided core privileging process. The library includes useful background information, and importantly, core privileging templates from several large, urban university practices, a multi-specialty clinic and a small community/rural referral hospital as examples of documents that may be repurposed as needed.
The core privileging process has several advantages. First and foremost, it simplifies and streamlines the privileging process for both the physician and medical staff office, especially given the growing number of facilities at which a single provider must obtain privileges. Second, the process uses a rigorous method for privileging to ensure patient safety while not limiting patient access to needed image guided procedures. Lastly, core privileging recognizes the translational nature of a physician’s skill set, training and expertise.
We hope that this resource will help diagnostic and interventional radiologists with the privileging and re-privileging process for image-guided procedures.
Visit acr.org to learn more about the Core Privileging Library and to access an introductory guide and other useful resources to assist with implementation.
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