Mon General Hospital Earns ACR Accreditation

            Mon General Hospital has been awarded three-year terms of accreditation in computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the result of recent reviews by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

            CT scanning - sometimes called CAT scanning - is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and tailor treatments for various medical conditions. Ultrasound imaging, also known as sonography, uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of internal body parts to help diagnose illness, injury or other medical problems. Mammography is an imaging test that uses a low-dose x-ray system to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases in women. MRI is a noninvasive medical test that utilizes magnetic fields to produce anatomical images of internal body parts to help physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions.

            “The efforts to attain these certifications speak to the hospital’s commitment to safe, quality care,” said Peggy Pust, Mon General Hospital Director of Imaging. “The ACR accreditation is the ‘gold seal’ of quality.

             “The criteria to be accredited are strict and encompass the qualifications of the technologists, the radiologists and the medical physicist, as well as evaluating the quality of the image that the unit is able to produce,” Pust said. “Mammography accreditation has been mandated by the FDA for years, the others are voluntary for hospitals.”

            The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

            The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 34,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.