ACR Develops Modular MRI Accreditation Program
Due to tremendous growth in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the need for quality assurance in this ever-changing area of imaging care, the American College of Radiology (ACR) is developing a modular MRI accreditation program. In 2006, the ACR Council approved a resolution requiring that the current ACR MRI accreditation program be redesigned into a modular program to best meet the needs of current MR practice.
This new approach offers facilities a more flexible accreditation program that recognizes that facility practice patterns vary, depending on the patient population served and the number of magnets utilized. Facilities will have six modules to choose from, so they can match their accreditation to their practice on each magnet. Breast MR, which is currently also under development, was specifically excluded from this modular concept because it fits better within the framework of the other breast imaging accreditation programs.
“The ACR Modular MRI Accreditation Program represents a commitment not only to high quality standards for performance of MR, but to the College’s continued effort to be responsive to the needs of medical imaging facilities, physicians, and patients in an ever-changing medical landscape,” said A. Joseph Borelli, Jr., M.D., chair of the ACR committee on MR accreditation."
The modules for MR Accreditation are:
· MR Body
· MR Head
· MR Angiography (MRA)
· MR Spine
· MR Musculoskeletal
· MR Cardiac
Accreditation for MRI through the ACR requires the submission of both clinical and phantom data from each magnet submitted for accreditation. As with the current program, modular MRI will require that every magnet at a facility must pass the accreditation criteria before the facility is accredited. The program will offer a list of both routine and specialty examinations for clinical review. Specific examination selection, including a minimum and maximum number of required examinations, will depend upon the number of modules (from a facility) being evaluated for accreditation at the same time.
ACR MRI accreditation is developed and supervised by a committee of ACR members, each an expert in the field of MR imaging. For each module within the new program, a subcommittee has been appointed. These subcommittees are in the process of developing the scoring criteria for the evaluation of clinical images in each module. As with all ACR accreditation programs and modules, once the scoring criteria are developed, the modular MRI accreditation program will be pilot-tested. This program will launch in the first half of 2008.
ACR accreditation is an efficient process of both self-assessment and independent external expert audit, based on ACR guidelines and technical standards, which assesses the qualifications of personnel, policies and procedures, equipment specifications, QA activities, patient safety, and, ultimately, the quality of patient care.
The purpose of accreditation programs is to set quality standards for practices and help them continuously improve the quality of care they provide to their patients. ACR accreditation provides an objective, peer reviewed assessment of facilities through evaluation of personnel qualifications, equipment requirements, quality assurance and quality control procedures, and evaluation of clinical and phantom image quality.
The ACR has a long history of providing accreditation for diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology going back as far as 1963. In 1994, the ACR became the only national accrediting body for mammography accreditation approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Mammography Quality Standards Act. Quality standards for mammography facilities have been credited with saving tens of thousands of women’s lives. In addition to mammography, the ACR currently has programs to accredit MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, PET, ultrasound, and radiation oncology, as well as stereotactic breast biopsy and breast ultrasound.
The expanded accreditation section of the ACR Web site ( www.acr.org ) section features extensive information to help facilities start the accreditation process and answer pertinent questions. The ACR has augmented its staff of certified radiologic technologists to readily guide providers through the accreditation process via the ACR accreditation hotline at (800) 770-0145.
For more information or to arrange an interview with an ACR spokesperson, please contact ACR Public Relations Manager Shawn Farley at (703) 648-8936 or sfarley@acr.org.
