2005 ACR Presidential Oration: Collective Wisdom: Lessons for the Future

Review of presidential orations delivered since the inception of the ACR in 1923 yields insight into problems that have faced radiology over the years and the aggressive way they have been dealt with by the College. A major example occurred in 1987 when the ACR proposed developing its own relative value scale in response to the Hsiao RBRVS proposed for all of medicine. Not popular at the time, this initiative proved eventually to benefit radiologists. Self-referral, escalating in recent years, is felt to require a similar strong response, the proposal for reimbursement of imaging only to designated providers who provide high quality imaging as documented by accreditation.