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Monmouth Medical Center has received the gold seal of accreditation from the American College of Radiology for its advanced imaging systems, and was the first in New Jersey to achieve this status for breast MRI imaging test.
The American College of Radiology (ACR) gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. Monmouth was the first in the state and just the 20th in the nation to achieve the ACR Gold Star for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the breast.
Gold seal accreditation 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, according to Monmouth Medical Center physicist Thomas Piccoli, who was the first diagnostic radiological physicist in New Jersey to be awarded dual certification by the American Board of Radiology and American Board of Medical Physics in diagnostic imaging physics.
“In gaining this accreditation status, Monmouth Medical Center has voluntarily gone through a vigorous review process to ensure that we meet nationally accepted standards of care,” he says. “Image quality as it relates to radiation exposure, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are all assessed by the ACR.”
Piccoli notes that 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.
“What the gold seal says to our patients is that Monmouth Medical Center’s radiology staff is well qualified, through education and certification, to perform medical imaging, interpret images, and provide the highest image quality with the most reasonable radiation exposure,” he says. “It also tells them that our equipment is appropriate for the test or treatment they will receive, and our facility meets or exceeds quality assurance and safety guidelines.”
Richard Ruchman, M.D., Monmouth Medical Center chair of radiology, adds that patients can rest assured — when seeing the ACR gold seal — that his or her prescribed imaging test is being done at a facility that has met the highest level of imaging quality and radiation safety.
“Receiving these accreditations is quite an achievement because the American College of Radiology (ACR) sets the gold standard for imaging procedures and facilities, and what makes this particularly significant is that Monmouth received this impressive accreditation for all eight of its advanced imaging systems,” Dr. Ruchman says.
In addition to MRI breast imaging, Monmouth Medical Center earned the ACR’s Gold Seal for general MRI and computed tomography (CT) that includes a special pediatric accreditation called Image Gently. Other imaging systems accredited include diagnostic ultrasound, general mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, ultrasound -guided breast biopsy and general breast ultrasound.
The Reston, Va.-based ACR has more than 34,000 members and is the principle organization of radiologists, radiation oncologists and clinical medical physicists in the United States. Its programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
For more information on advanced imaging services available at Monmouth Medical Center, call the Department of Radiology at Monmouth at 732-923-6800.
January 10 , 2011
CONTACT: Kristine Brown
Director of Public Relations at
(732) 557-3902
krbrown@barnabashealth.org
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