Cardiovascular Business - September/October 2008 - (Page 29) LooMs on the horIzon applications for accreditation on the rise the number of applications for echo and nuclear lab accreditation has grown exponentially since the accrediting bodies were initiated more than a decade ago. Source: Gary V. heller et al, J am coll cardiol Img 2008;1;390-397 echo labs nuclear labs 1072 727 130 5 1998 2007 physicians practicing nuclear cardiology by January 1, 2008.” As chair of the ACR board of chancellors in 2005, James Borgstede, MD, testified before Congress that the use of “accreditation standards is one mechanism to help attain the goal of increasing quality and safety, while at the same time reducing utilization costs to Medicare.” These unequivocal statements endorsing mandatory accreditation did not sit well with all members of these professional societies. “Our organizations got to be a little unpopular with some of the membership,” observes Kim A. Williams, MD, director of nuclear cardiology at the University of Chicago and past president of the ASNC. From voluntary to mandatory However, the positions taken by the ASNC, ASE, ACC, and ACR were prescient of reimbursement requirements that have been undertaken by private healthcare insurance payors. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in Pennsylvania, Oxford Health Plans in New England, Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, and Group Health Incorporated and HealthNet in cardiovascularBusiness.com cardiovascular Business 29 http://CardiovascularBusiness.com
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