It demonstrates a commitment to quality care.
The purpose of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Magnetic Resonance Laboratories (ICAMRL) is "to promote appropriate diagnostic quality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the delivery of health care by providing a peer review process of facility accreditation." Through the accreditation process, MRI facilities voluntarily assess every aspect of daily operation and its impact on the quality of health care provided to patients. While completing the accreditation application, facilities often identify and correct potential problems, revising protocols and validating quality assurance programs. Because accreditation is renewed every three years, a long-term commitment to quality and self-assessment is developed and maintained. Facilities may use ICAMRL accreditation as the foundation to create and achieve realistic quality care goals.
It provides a confidential peer-review.
Designed to serve facilities as an educational tool, ICAMRL accreditation is made up of two crucial steps. First, facilities conduct a detailed self-evaluation using the ICAMRL Standards and the application. Completion of the application requires detailed information on all aspects of facility operation as well as the submission of actual case studies for review. The case studies are crucial in determining the facility's compliance with the Standards, and are the basis for judgment of the quality of work that facilities perform. Once the self-evaluation is completed, the documents and case studies are reviewed by the ICAMRL Board of Directors. All aspects of the review are confidential.
It's a recruiting tool.
Accredited facilities can use their accreditation as a recruiting tool to attract the best and brightest physicians, physicists and technologists. Talented professionals are eager to join high-quality programs, and accreditation assures potential employees that a facility is dedicated to achieving the highest standards for patient care.
It's intersocietal.
The intersocietal approach is the foundation of the accrediting bodies managed under the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission's umbrella. The ICAMRL is a nonprofit organization established with the support of the sponsoring organizations. Representatives from these sponsoring organizations, including physicians, physicists and technologists, serve on the ICAMRL Board of Directors. All areas of MRI were represented during the creation of the Standards for accreditation and all areas continue to steer the accreditation process.
It's proven successful.
Over the past decade, radiologists as well as specialists have embraced the ICAMRL program as a means to both document their quality and comply with insurers’ payment policies that mandate accreditation. Most recently, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), requires all nonhospital providers of advanced diagnostic imaging, inclusive of MRI, CT, Nuclear Medicine and PET, to obtain accreditation as a condition for reimbursement by January 1, 2012. The ICAMRL, along with the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL), the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL), the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (ICANL), the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Computed Tomography Laboratories (ICACTL), and the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Carotid Stenting Facilities (ICACSF) are members of the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC).
It demonstrate's accountability
Health care organizations are held to very high levels of accountability, by peers and by the general public. In numerous states, reimbursement directives that require accreditation of the facility have been instituted (please visit Payment Policies section for the current list). Similar draft payment policies are pending throughout the United States. Facilities attaining accreditation before it is required for reimbursement demonstrate a willingness to surpass current expectations. The general public and members of the MRI community will recognize an unmatched commitment to providing quality health care by facilities that achieve ICAMRL accreditation. |
