ACR accreditation is an efficient process of both self-assessment and independent external expert audit, based on ACR guidelines and technical standards, which assesses the qualifications of personnel, policies and procedures, equipment specifications, QA activities, patient safety, and, ultimately, the quality of patient care.

The purpose of accreditation programs is to set quality standards for practices and help them continuously improve the quality of care they provide to their patients. ACR accreditation provides an objective, peer reviewed assessment of facilities through evaluation of personnel qualifications, equipment requirements, quality assurance and quality control procedures, and evaluation of clinical and phantom image quality.


The ACR has a long history of providing accreditation for diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology going back as far as 1963. In 1994, the ACR became the only national accrediting body for mammography accreditation approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Mammography Quality Standards Act. Quality standards for mammography facilities have been credited with saving tens of thousands of women's lives. In addition to mammography, the ACR currently has programs to accredit MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, PET, ultrasound, and radiation oncology, as well as stereotactic breast biopsy and breast ultrasound.

The expanded accreditation section of the ACR Web site (www.acr.org ) section features extensive information to help facilities start the accreditation process and answer pertinent questions. The ACR has augmented its staff of certified radiologic technologists to readily guide providers through the accreditation process via the ACR accreditation hotline at (800) 770-0145.

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