At the National Meeting in NY, there were 35 standards approved or modified. There was a revision in the ACR ByLaws where by new Councilors will take office the last day of the National Meeting. Mammography is in crisis due to poor reimbursement and law suits. Many centers are closing making it difficult to obtain a mammogram for many women. Arkansas is one of nine states who have voted to pay the RAA dues for all its membership.
Academia is in a crisis also.
Many teaching positions are open due to academic radiologists moving into the private practice situations. The ACR has a task force working on this situation. One of the suggestions to solve this problem is to have private practice academic programs whereby the residency program is managed by the academic radiologists and the fees from this practice are not controlled by the deans of the medical schools. Time limited certifications will be issued for radiologists passing the Boards in 2002. There is also talk about requiring other radiologists to retake a board of some kind in addition to obtaining CME hours to renew certification.