What is IAC Echocardiography Accreditation?
What is IAC Echocardiography Accreditation?
IAC accreditation demonstrates a commitment to quality care.
The purpose of the IAC Echocardiography accreditation program is “to ensure high quality patient care and to promote health care by providing a mechanism to encourage and recognize the provision of quality echocardiographic diagnostic evaluations by a process of accreditation.” Through the accreditation process, facilities 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 IAC Echocardiography accreditation as the foundation to create and achieve realistic quality care goals.
IAC accreditation provides a confidential peer-review.
Designed to serve facilities as an educational tool, IAC Echocardiography accreditation is made up of two crucial steps. First, facilities conduct a detailed self-evaluation using the IAC Standards for Echocardiography Accreditation and the Online Accreditation 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 IAC 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 IAC Echocardiography Board of Directors. All aspects of the review are confidential.
IAC accreditation is a recruiting tool.
Accredited facilities can use their accreditation as a recruiting tool to attract the best and brightest physicians and sonographers. Talented professionals look for high-quality programs, and accreditation assures potential employees that a facility is dedicated to achieving the highest standards for patient care.
IAC accreditation is intersocietal.
The intersocietal, multi-specialty approach is the foundation of the accrediting divisions under the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) umbrella. IAC Echocardiography is a nonprofit organization established with the support of the sponsoring organizations. Representatives from these sponsoring organizations, including physicians and sonographers, serve on the IAC Echocardiography Board of Directors. All areas of echocardiography were represented on the Board during the creation of the Standards for accreditation, and all areas continue to steer the accreditation process.
IAC accreditation is proven successful.
Modeled after the success of the first IAC division, IAC Vascular Testing, IAC Echocardiography (formerly ICAEL) was created in 1996 to accredit echocardiography facilities, becoming the second member division of the IAC. Now in its second decade offering accreditation, IAC Echocardiography has accredited more than 5,000 echocardiography sites to date. A multitude of private insurers as well as Medicare carriers link reimbursement to IAC Echocardiography accreditation. The IAC offers multi-modality accreditation through its programs dedicated to Vascular Testing, Echocardiography, Nuclear/PET, MRI, CT / Dental CT, Carotid Stenting, Vein Center, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Catheterization.
IAC accreditation demonstrates 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 by Medicare carriers as well as private, third-party insurers (please visit Payment Policies section for the current list). Similar draft payment policies are pending throughout the U.S. Facilities attaining accreditation before it is required for reimbursement demonstrate a willingness to surpass current expectations. The general public and members of the echocardiography community recognize an unmatched commitment to providing quality health care by facilities that achieve IAC Echocardiography accreditation.