2007 ACR Presidential Oration: Four Foundations For Our Future

In this 2007 Presidential Address, James P. Borgstede, MD, makes 4 requests of radiologists. These requests are first, that they be adaptive to change. Second, that they uphold quality medical imaging as a part of a specialty rather than a commodity. Third, that they develop a pay-it-forward sense of responsibility. And fourth, that they embrace the perspective of patient primacy. He opines that the future of radiology lies in an evolution to a specialty with greater emphasis on functional imaging and with physiologic orientation. He states that radiology and the ACR cannot be the organization seeking legislative protection for exclusivity of imaging services based on specialty title, but instead must be the specialty seeking public protection based on radiologists' ability to provide services with quality. He further states that radiology is commoditized through the inappropriate use of imaging requests as orders for tests rather than requests for consultations and by inappropriate use of digital imaging and electronic transfer of data. In addition, if radiologists keep patient primacy first in all of their considerations, they will ultimately do what is best for radiology as a specialty as well.