When you become a member of the American College of Radiology, you automatically become a member of the New York State Radiological Society (NYSRS) and part of your ACR dues are transferred to the New York Society to support its activities.
Here is what the NYSRS does for its members:
- Advocacy
- Continuing Education
- Professional Development
- Participation in the ACR
ADVOCACY
The NYSRS promotes legislation, regulations and policies favorable to radiologists and their patients.
The Society’s lobbyist, counsel and members meet with state legislators, legislative staff and state and local government agency staff . Working collaboratively with other professional associations, they submit information and formal written comments on many legislative and regulatory proposals. Here are some of the Society’s accomplishments in 2019:
- The Society modified the proposed replacement of Article 175 of the New York City Health Code regarding radiation control to correct technical errors and remove new obligations.
- The Society successfully opposed legislation that would have allowed physician assistants to perform fluoroscopy with no specific didactic or clinical education and training standards.
- The Society drafted new practice guidelines for medical physicists which would prohibit equipment service engineers from practicing medical physics.
- The Society advocated for the extension of the Medical Excess Malpractice Program; prior authorization reform; affidavits of merit regarding malpractice claims; and a cautious approach to recreational use of marijuana.
- The Society held its first Annual Lobby Day in Albany. Twenty radiologists participated.
The Society’s website www.nysrs.org has an Advocacy section that highlights its legislative and regulatory activities.
In 2019, the NYSRS won the ACR’s annual award for excellence in Government Affairs.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
The NYSRS promotes the continuing education of radiologists through presentations at its member meetings, special educational presentations by local chapters and substantive quarterly reports by the Society’s committees. The reports are published on the Society’s website. Society members received up to 54 CME credits for attending Society and local chapter educational presentations in 2019. Members can participate remotely in the Society’s semiannual member meetings.
DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG RADIOLOGISTS
The NYSRS actively supports the professional development of young radiologists. Young Professionals and Residents’ representatives attend and report at the Society’s quarterly board meetings. Residents are invited to the Society’s semiannual member meetings. Every year, the Society sponsors a summer social and a career planning session for Residents, and finances Resident participation at the annual ACR meeting in Washington. In 2019, the Society sponsored Resident participation in the ACR’s leadership training program. In 2019, the Society’s Young Professionals Section held its first annual Young Professionals Career Night.
PARTICIPATION IN THE ACR
The NYSRS is the second largest ACR state chapter in the country. It sends a large delegation, including Residents and Young Professionals, to the annual ACR meeting in Washington and participates in the ACR lobbying day in Congress. Several Society members have leadership positions in the ACR. The ACR is the leading advocate for radiologists in the nation.
Among the ACR’s advocacy successes in 2019 were:
- Preventing passage of fl awed surprise billing legislation and affording time to explore a more comprehensive bill;
- Helping to enact legislation to restore pass-through payment for two drugs used in the Imaging Dementia Study; and
- Leading efforts for legislation preserving insurance coverage for annual screening mammograms for women 40 and older.
The ACR also offers its members an extensive array of educational, training and practice standard development opportunities. Members receive the acclaimed monthly Journal of the ACR and daily updates on clinical and policy news. In 2019, the ACR launched the following enhancements for its members:
- Radiology Well-Being Program
- 2019 Continuous Professional Improvement
- Modules in Adult Cancer Imaging
- Digital Breast Tomosynthesis guidance document
- My CT Colonography center locator
- “Talking to Your Patients About Breast Cancer Screening” CME Toolkit
- The ACR Data Science Institute® (DSI) AI-LAB™
- MACRA and CDS guidance and training