President's Message 7/14/2001

The Indiana Radiological Society (IRS) is the Indiana chapter of the American College of Radiology (ACR). It is a nonprofit professional society whose purpose is to improve the delivery of radiology and radiation oncology services to the public. The IRS and the ACR work together on many issues of vital importance to the delivery of services: accreditation, standards of practice, economics, coding, ethics, government relations, insurance company liaisons, appropriateness criteria, legal issues, human resources, continuing medical education, and research. IRS membership is composed of more than 500 radiologists, radiation oncologists and physicists in the state of Indiana.

To fulfill its missions, the IRS works to educate our government leaders about issues which impact the delivery of radiological services to the public in Indiana. To assist the IRS in its communication with local and state governmental representatives the IRS has formed the Indiana RADPAC, which is a political action committee. Contributions to this organization are used to support candidates and legislation which promote high quality and safety of radiology and radiation oncology for our patients. The activities of the Indiana RADPAC are entirely supported by voluntary, non-tax-deductible contributions from the IRS members.

At the national level, the ACR also works to educate our government leaders about issues which affect the delivery of radiological services throughout the country. To support this mission the ACR formed two organizations: (1) the Radiology Advocacy Alliance (RAA) and (2) the RADPAC, a national political action committee. The RAA is a 501(c)(6) tax exempt organization which may accept personal and corporate contributions and use the money to conduct political education activities for its members. The RAA may also pay administrative and solicitation expenses associated with a political action committee (PAC) and may form a political action committee. The RAA formed the RADPAC, a national political action committee. RADPAC is allowed to make direct political contributions to federal candidates and campaigns. The RAA and the RADPAC are entirely supported by voluntary contributions from ACR members. The RAA contributions are tax-deductible, and the RADPAC contributions are non-tax deductible.

The standing committees of the IRS include:

• The Executive Committee
• The Standards in Radiological Practice Committee
• The Fellowship Committee
• The Insurance Intermediary Liaison
• The Members-in-Training Committee
• The Legislative Committee
• The Judicial Affairs Committee
• The Mammography Committee
• The Membership Committee
• The Constitution and Bylaws Committee
• The Carrier Advisory Committee

To serve the members of the IRS better we would like to maintain current contact information. Please send your current e-mail address, mailing address, and telephone number to Dotty Martens, our chapter executive director, at dmartens@ismanet.org (at the ISMA). Please feel free to contact me at kkkopecky@hotmail.com.

Sincerely yours,
Kenyon K Kopecky, M.D.