New ACR Guidance Can Help Radiology Facilities Resume Non-Urgent Care

New American College of Radiology® (ACR®) guidelines can help radiology practices, as safely as possible, resume offering mammograms, oncologic and orthopedic imaging, image-guided biopsies, and other non-urgent care previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coronavirus cases and deaths are declining in some areas. Radiology practices in those regions are resuming such care. Published online May 6 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR), the new ACR guidance helps practices make informed decisions on when, where and how to once again offer these non-emergency services.

"Radiology practices largely followed World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ACR guidance to postpone non-urgent care. While local conditions prevent a single prescriptive strategy to resume such care, general principles can apply in most settings. These ACR recommendations can help practices safely and efficiently resume non-urgent care in areas where pandemic conditions allow," said American College of Radiology Commission on Quality and Safety Chair Jacqueline A. Bello, MD, FACR.

Read the ACR Statement on Safe Resumption of Non-Urgent Radiology Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The ACR offers a variety of clinical resources for radiologists and allied health care providers — available at acr.org/covid19.