This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Accreditation available for dedicated MRIs
State legislation and payer policies may require credentials for reimbursements.
The advent and subsequent popularity of specialty scanners in physicians’ offices has led to the next logical step – accreditation.
“We definitely have had interest and contact with orthopedic facilities interested in accreditation,” said Rahne Alexander.
Alexander is program director for the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Magnetic Resonance Laboratories (ICAMRL), which recently completed a pilot accreditation program and is accepting applications for it first round of credentialing.
While confident about the new program and the impending demand for extremity scanner accreditation, Alexander noted that most small facilities are still acquiring scanning equipment and are not quite prepared to go through the accreditation process.
“Accreditation of in-office MRI is on the horizon but it’s not something people seem to be completely ready to push forward with in part because they may be unaware of its existence,” Alexander said.
ICAMRL is the first body to offer accreditation for specialty MRI machines, but it may not be the last.
The American College of Radiology (ACR) has also completed a pilot program for specialty scanner accreditation. The results are under committee review and a decision on whether or not to establish such a program could be made as early as the end of the year, according to Jeff Hayden, manager of the MRI accreditation program at ACR.
The ACR has accredited more than 3400 MRI units across the United States over the past seven years, but those credentials are available only to facilities with whole-body scanners, Hayden said.
Accreditation is not mandatory for whole-body MRI units, but with some third-party payers requiring it for reimbursements, it is essentially a requirement for some facilities. A similar scenario could be in store for extremity scanners.
“It seems we’re getting more and more state legislation and payer policy for reimbursement requiring accreditation. I think that’s definitely going to get the attention of a lot of providers,” Alexander said.
Alexander said Blue Cross of Alabama recently recognized ICAMRL’s accreditation program, and legislation has been proposed in several states, including Florida, Michigan and New Jersey.
The ‘phantom’ difference
If the ACR establishes an extremity scanner accreditation program, it would mirror the whole-body program, which requires the purchase of a “phantom test object” machine to test the quality of images produced by MRI scanners, Hayden said.
“It’s critical to have something scanned for quality control and accuracy. Without a phantom and proper ongoing calibration it’s impossible to tell if you’re in spec,” Hayden said.
The ICAMRL program does not require a phantom or similar device but places significant emphasis on the quality of the images and reports submitted by the facility applying for accreditation. Site visits would be rare, Alexander said. The accreditation is good for three years.
Once ICAMRL’s program is up to full speed, there will be quarterly application deadlines with decisions made within three months of each deadline, Alexander said. The fee for accreditation is $1500 for first magnet and $1000 for each additional unit.
ICAMRL had two pilot accreditation labs. Summit Orthopaedics, Ltd., in St. Paul, Minn., was the musculoskeletal pilot lab, and the Oklahoma Heart Institute MRI Center in Tulsa, Okla., was the cardiovascular pilot lab.
ICAMRL is part of the IAC, which has separate organizations that accredit vascular, echocardiography and nuclear medicine labs.