Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield
CARECORE NATIONAL ANNOUNCES THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY PRIVILEGING AND CREDENTIALING STANDARDS FOR HORIZON BCBS
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) have published training and accreditation standards to assure that echocardiography procedures are not only performed for appropriate indications but are also performed by professionals meeting the training standards agreed upon in the ACC 2003 Clinical Competence Statement on Echocardiography and at sites accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL).
This Horizon Echocardiography Privileging Program will begin on November 30, 2009. All sites desiring to perform transthoracic and stress echocardiography will require ICAEL accreditation. Sites supervised by a board certified cardiologist must meet this requirement by November 30, 2010. The performance and implementation of these studies will be limited to providers who are board certified in cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) or providers certified by the National Board of Echocardiography (NBE) for transthoracic echocardiography and/or stress echocardiography. Any echocardiography procedures performed at sites not accredited by ICAEL and/or by providers who are not ABIM/ABP certified in cardiology or NBE certified may not be reimbursed regardless of the medical necessity of the procedure.
More details on the Horizon Echocardiography Privileging Program can be found on the CareCore National website.>>
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