April 20, 2009 - Issue # 1
ACR accreditation means commitment to excellence.
Johns Creek Diagnostic Center realizes that physicians offices rely on high standards from the healthcare facilities where they refer patients. Reputations and accurate diagnoses are at stake!
With that in mind, it's hard to believe that every medical imaging center is not accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR). These accreditations in both MRI and CT technologies at JCDC are after all, symbols of achievement that indicate the highest health practice standards. So, is it difficult to be awarded accreditation?
To answer this, it is important to have a brief understanding of the organization and the accreditation process. The ACR is a national organization that has been designated as an accrediting body by the FDA. ACR is headquartered in Reston, Virginia and serves more than 32,000 interventional and diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine and medical physicists. ACR programs focus on the practice of medical imaging, radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive healthcare services.
Although healthcare facilities are NOT CURRENTLY REQUIRED to obtain ACR accreditation, JCDC chose to become accredited in 2006 due to the numerous benefits it would provide for patients, staff and partnering physicians as we made improvements to our center.
No doubt, accreditation helps distinguish our center from many other facilities in the greater Atlanta area that may not have not sought the higher level of accountability yet. But more importantly, it represents the commitment that JCDC is willing to go the extra mile as we provide the highest quality service.
 Earning ACR accreditation is a very challenging, lengthy and highly detailed process.There are four areas imaging facilities are evaluated on...
- personnel qualifications
- equipment performance
- effectiveness of quality control measures
- quality of clinical images
Facilities seeking accreditation must provide ACR with detailed information regarding all personnel credentials, followed by an overview of all facility and equipment qualifications. The center must also gather and submit clinical and phantom images, dose measurements and patient reports for evaluation. Methods and standards regarding quality control and quality assurance programs must be reported as well.
Once all image and data requirements are received by ACR, a group of board-certified physicians and expert medical physicists complete the evaluation. All CT and MRI units must pass both the clinical and phantom image-quality tests. The findings are reported to ACR's Committee on Accreditation. They in turn, provide the facility with a comprehensive report that includes an overview of accomplishments and any areas in need of improvement. Performance tests are conducted on an annual basis thereafter. Accreditation must also be renewed every three years. The strenuous process ensures that quality of care and clinical imaging at our center is greatly enhanced and maintained.
Another significant benefit of partnering with an ACR accredited facility such as ours, is that accreditation can positively impact a practice’s reimbursement processing. As you may know, Medicare, insurance companies and other third-party payers have already begun to enact reimbursement policies that require accreditation. Simply put, our status as an accredited member can only help to make your reimbursement process more efficient.
We are confident that you will agree that the excellent standards that come with ACR accreditation nicely complement the "comfort and compassion" that we strive to provide for our patients everyday.
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