ACC CV SUMMIT: How to Make Accreditation Work for You: Is It Worth the Money?

Friday, January 17, 2014 | Joel Sauer

Dr. Blair Erb, Bozeman Deaconess Cardiology Consultants, shared how accreditation worked for him in both the private setting as well as after he had integrated with the local hospital. In the private setting, an ICAEL accreditation set his practice apart from the hospital that was not accredited. Dr. Erb noticed a significant number of referrals coming to his office upon placement of the ICAEL logo on his standard literature and marketing materials. Once integrated, Dr. Erb negotiated that maintenance of this certification become as part of his overall compensation package. The accreditation here benefited both Dr. Erb and the hospital.

Joel Sauer, VP – Consulting for MedAxiom, offered additional reasons why accreditation is a valuable process. Mr. Sauer explains the reimbursement differences between Medicare and commercial carriers and not being accredited. From an operational standpoint, accreditation fosters positive standards and standards create efficiencies and efficiencies reduce variation and reduced variation creates quality.

To continue on the quality theme, Mr. Sauer adds that both quality and utilization further supports the case for accreditation through the requirements of staff training, detailed record keeping, utilization of AUC standards, correlational studies and shorter report turn around times.

The attendees and speakers then discussed how each person feels about the value of accreditation and the benefits to their organization. What is your feeling about imaging accreditation?

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