ACR White Paper: The Value Added That Radiologists Provide to the Health Care Enterprise

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2008.06.003 Byline: John A. Patti (a), Jonathan William Berlin (b), Albert L. Blumberg (c), R. Nick Bryan (d), Fred Gaschen (e), Brenda M. Izzi (f), Paul A. Larson (g), Jonathan Stewart Lewin (h), Lawrence A. Liebscher (i) Keywords: Value added; radiologists; health care enterprise; future imaging trends Abstract: Radiologists represent arguably one of medicine's least heralded but most important specialties. Although they carry sterling credentials as imaging and radiation safety experts, radiologists have lacked widespread public recognition. As public and private stakeholders cast an even more intense spotlight on imaging, the vital role of radiologists must be better understood. During the January 2008 ACR Forum on Future Practice Models for Radiology, participants and ACR leaders discussed the value added that radiologists bring to the health care enterprise and recommended that the ACR further study that topic. The ACR, dedicated to providing quality patient care since its inception in 1924, convened the Task Force on Value Added to address these issues. The task force determined the component stakeholders in the health care enterprise to whom value is added, defined the nature of the value for each constituent component, described the process of adding that value, and anticipated future trends that may affect the value proposition. Recommendations to the ACR for future action are offered. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Radiology, North Shore Medical Center, Salem, Massachusetts (b) Department of Radiology, Evanston Hospital, Evanston, Illinois (c) Department of Radiation Oncology, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland (d) Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (e) Radiological Associates of Sacramento, Sacramento, California (f) Department of Radiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (g) Radiology Associates of the Fox Valley, SC, Neenah, Wisconsin (h) Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, Baltimore, Maryland (i) Cedar Valley Medical Specialists, Waterloo, Iowa