The American College of Radiology has updated its influential imaging appropriateness criteria with five new topics, leaders announced Thursday.
ACR’s latest additions cover clinical scenarios such as imaging after breast surgery, radiologists’ considerations for fibroids, hernias, and pediatric ataxia, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. Staging and follow-up for esophageal cancer also represents a new category, while the college added 15 revised topics.
First launched in 1993, the criteria offer comprehensive guidance for selecting diagnostic exams and imaging guided procedures, altogether encompassing 221 topics and 2,900 scenarios.
“Referring physicians and other healthcare providers depend on the ACR Appropriateness Criteria for consistency and standards in providing quality patient radiologic care,” said Mark E. Lockhart, MD, chair of the college’s committee overseeing the program, said in a statement. “This tool is valuable for patients as well, providing them with easy-to-understand summaries that help explain which tests are appropriate for their situation.”
ACR said each topic incorporates a narrative, table of evidence, and summary of relevant research, with many also offering patient-friendly details written in layman’s terms. Radiologists and referrers can also consult the criteria to fulfill requirements spelled out by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.