The American College of Radiology announced an updated to its imaging appropriateness criteria on April 13 that includes four new topics.
Monday’s refresh covers clinical scenarios such as postpartum hemorrhaging, imaging after a mastectomy and breast reduction, nuchal translucency scans, and the most frequent urinary tract anomaly detected on prenatal screenings. In addition, the college also revised a dozen more categories to help guide radiologists determine how to best deploy imaging in certain situations.
“Our goal for the appropriate use criteria is to create consistent behaviors for medical imaging and interventional radiology procedures for all patients,” Frank Rybicki, MD, PhD, chairman of the committee that oversees the criteria, said in a statement. The guidelines continue to serve as a “critical resource” to help providers fulfill new Protecting Access to Medicare Act requirements while also maintaining high-quality care, he added.
ACR first introduced its appropriateness criteria back in 1993, and the resource has since grown to include 93 diagnostic imaging and interventional radiology topics with 942 clinical variants. Each includes a narrative, evidence table and a summary of relevant literature. Many also offer patient-friendly summaries, the college noted.
You can more about April’s update here, and the previous criteria changes here.
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.