Today's health care organizations are held to very high levels of accountability
-- by peers, by the general public, and by Medicare and other
payers. ICAEL accreditation is a means by which echocardiography
laboratories can evaluate and demonstrate the level of patient
care they provide.
Committed to balancing the changing needs of both the echocardiography
community and the general public, the ICAEL was created in 1996
by uniting physicians and sonographers from the sponsoring organizations.
The physicians and sonographers on the ICAEL Board Of Directors
composed The Standards, an extensive document defining
the minimal requirements for echocardiography laboratories to
provide high quality care. The Standards are used by
laboratories as both a guideline and the foundation to create
and achieve realistic quality care goals.
ICAEL accreditation is an educational process, not a pass-fail exam.
The process begins with a comprehensive self-evaluation by laboratory
staff. Completion of the application for accreditation requires
information on all aspects of laboratory operation as well as
the submission of actual case studies for review. After a laboratory
submits the application to the ICAEL, the application undergoes
a confidential peer-review by the ICAEL's trained reviewers,
including both physicians and sonographers, before a final decision
is made by the Board Of Directors.
The ICAEL does not restrict accreditation to the "perfect"
echocardiography laboratory.
Rather, accreditation is based on a policy of substantial compliance
with The Standards. No laboratory is ever denied accreditation
outright. Instead, the ICAEL provides guidance to assist the
laboratory in meeting the requirements of The Standards.
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