Where to Find Clinical Practice Guidelines and Clinical Tools on the ACR Website
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) website, rheumatology.org, organizes its clinical resources under a Clinical Tools & Guidelines area, with separate sections for Clinical Practice Guidelines, Clinical Guidance, Clinical Tools, and Criteria. These are the entry points to use if you are a rheumatology professional or allied health professional looking for ACR-endorsed guidance, diagnostic or classification criteria, or practical clinical tools. The site also surfaces new guideline releases directly on its homepage — for example, a recently posted summary of a new ACR osteoarthritis clinical practice guideline.
The main sections to look for
| Section | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Clinical Tools & Guidelines | The umbrella area that groups the ACR's clinical resources |
| Clinical Practice Guidelines | Formally developed ACR practice guidelines |
| Clinical Guidance | Guidance documents that are not full practice guidelines |
| Clinical Tools | Practical resources for use in rheumatology practice |
| Criteria | Classification and diagnostic criteria sets |
If you are unsure where a specific resource lives, start at Clinical Tools & Guidelines and narrow down from there, since the other four categories sit under it.
How to reach a guideline or tool
- Go to rheumatology.org.
- Locate the Clinical Tools & Guidelines area (it is also listed among the site's popular topics).
- Choose the sub-section that matches what you need — for example, Clinical Practice Guidelines for a formal guideline, or Criteria for classification criteria.
- Open the specific document. New guideline summaries are also announced on the homepage, so checking the "What's New at ACR" area is a quick way to catch recent releases.
Expected result: you land on the ACR's own guideline, guidance, criteria, or tool page rather than a third-party summary.
What you can expect to find there
- New guideline summaries, such as the recently released osteoarthritis clinical practice guideline summary.
- Clinical practice guidelines covering rheumatology topics.
- Clinical guidance documents.
- Clinical tools intended for practice use.
- Criteria used in rheumatology.
The ACR describes itself as a non-profit professional association serving nearly 9,100 physicians, health professionals, and scientists worldwide in the rheumatology subspecialty, so these resources are written for that professional audience rather than for patients. If you are a patient or caregiver, the site's Diseases & Conditions, Treatments, and Find a Rheumatology Professional areas are the more relevant destinations.
Common sticking points
- Guidelines vs. guidance vs. criteria: these are distinct sections. A classification criteria set is not the same as a practice guideline, so pick the section that matches your task.
- Summaries vs. full documents: the homepage may highlight a summary of a guideline; the fuller resource is reached through the guideline section itself.
- Audience: content in these sections assumes a clinical or scientific background. Non-clinicians may find the patient-facing sections easier to use.
- Timeliness: guideline content is updated over time, so confirm you are looking at the current version rather than an older posted item.
Other ACR resources worth knowing about
Beyond guidelines and tools, the ACR site links to ACR/ARP Journals, upcoming meetings, and ACR Convergence (the 2026 meeting is scheduled for November 6–11 in Orlando, Florida, with registration open and the general registration rate ending November 11). Membership is promoted as giving discounted registration fees and access to publications and resources, but the site does not state here that guideline or tool access is free or requires login — treat access conditions as something to verify on the specific resource page.