Health care in the U.S. is changing, and radiologists, at all career levels, need to obtain the leadership skills necessary to adapt to these changes and keep radiology as central to the delivery of high quality medical care. In response to this growing need, the American College of Radiology (ACR) Foundation recently launched a national fundraising campaign called Leading Radiology Into the Future. All proceeds of this new initiative will be used to further develop and strengthen the Radiology Leadership Institute™ (RLI) — radiology’s first professional development and leadership academy.

Lisa Bartenhagen, M.S., R.T.(R)(T)(ARRT), and Barbara J. Smith, M.S., R.T.(R)(QM)(ARRT), FASRT, FAEIRS, have been appointed to four-year terms on the ARRT Board of Trustees, beginning August 1, 2013.

Late last month, stories circulated that the list of potential buyers for Carestream Health, which was being auctioned by Onex, was quickly shrinking. Now, reports are the list has gone from shrinking to nonexistent, as Onex has called off the auction.

Use of IMRT to treat prostate cancer, which carries a reimbursement rate approximately 50 percent higher than conformal radiotherapy, skyrocketed from zero in 2000 to 82.1 percent in 2009 among postprostatectomy patients. Despite the swift uptake, IMRT may not provide morbidity benefits among these patients, according to a study published online May 20 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Although teleradiology services offer a number of benefits to healthcare providers and their patients, the American College of Radiology’s (ACR’s) Task Force on Teleradiology Practice stated that the traditional practice model of on-site, local radiology groups may better serve most communities.

As I scroll through this week’s top stories I’m struck by the various ways the future seems to be upon us and the overarching message that these disparate stories seem to bring.

The American Society of Radiologic Technologists has announced the 2012-2013 winners of the Jean I. Widger Distinguished Author Award and the Harold Silverman Distinguished Author Award, honoring the best peer-reviewed articles published in ASRT’s scientific journals.

Radiology must embrace the practice of peer review, and such initiatives would be more beneficial to both patients and imaging professionals if the focus was on performance improvement for the entire profession as opposed to measurement and error identification, according to an article published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.