The American College of Radiology (ACR) next year will offer resources to help radiology professionals provide and receive payments for CT lung cancer screening.
The ACR Lung Cancer Screening Clinical Practice Registry will be available in the second quarter of 2015 to calculate audit measures and provide comparisons and benchmarks to practicing radiologists.
The registry will go into effect after the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) releases its data registry specifications, scheduled for December 31. The guidelines will allow practices to collect and monitor appropriate data elements early next year.
ACR will also offer sessions at ACR 2015, the society's new annual meeting for members. CT lung cancer screening sessions will include the following:
- Lung Cancer Screening: From Science to Practice
- Lung Cancer Screening: CT Interpretation and Management
- Lung Cancer Screening: Implementations and Economic Considerations for a Screening Program
In addition, the ACR Lung Imaging Reporting and Data System (Lung-RADS) is designed to standardize lung cancer screening CT reporting and management recommendations, assist in lung cancer screening CT interpretations, and facilitate outcome monitoring.
ACR has also created a special lung cancer screening section on www.ACR.org.
![Images show the pectoralis muscles of a healthy male individual who never smoked (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; body mass index [BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 28.4; number of cigarette pack-years, 0; forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], 97.6% predicted; FEV1: forced vital capacity [FVC] ratio, 0.71; pectoralis muscle area [PMA], 59.4 cm2; pectoralis muscle volume [PMV], 764 cm3) and a male individual with a smoking history and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; BMI, 27.5; number of cigarette pack-years, 43.2, FEV1, 48% predicted; FEV1:FVC, 0.56; PMA, 35 cm2; PMV, 480.8 cm3) from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease (i.e., CanCOLD) study. The CT image is shown in the axial plane. The PMV is automatically extracted using the developed deep learning model and overlayed onto the lungs for visual clarity.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/03/genkin.25LqljVF0y.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=focalpoint&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
