ICANL Accredidation

The purpose of the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (ICANL) is "to ensure high quality patient care and to promote health care by providing a mechanism to encourage and recognize the provision of quality nuclear cardiology and nuclear medicine diagnostic evaluations by a process of voluntary accreditation."

Why it's important:

It demonstrates a commitment to quality care. Through the accreditation process, laboratories assess every aspect of daily operation and its impact on the quality of health care provided to patients. While completing the accreditation application, laboratories often identify and correct potential problems, revising protocols and validating quality assurance programs. Because accreditation is renewed every three years, a long-term commitment to quality and self-assessment is developed and maintained. Laboratories may use ICANL accreditation as the foundation to create and achieve realistic quality care goals.

It provides a confidential peer-review. Designed to serve laboratories as an educational tool, ICANL accreditation is made up of two crucial steps. First, laboratories conduct a detailed self-evaluation using The Standards and the application. Completion of the application requires detailed information on all aspects of laboratory operation as well as the submission of actual case studies for review. The case studies are crucial in determining the laboratory's compliance with The Standards, and are the basis for judgment of the quality of work that laboratories perform. Once the self-evaluation is completed, the documents and case studies are reviewed by the ICANL Board Of Directors. All aspects of the review are confidential.

It's a recruiting tool. Accredited laboratories can use their accreditation as a recruiting tool to attract the best and brightest physicians and technologists. Talented professionals look for high-quality programs, and accreditation assures potential employees that a laboratory is dedicated to achieving the highest standards for patient care.

It's intersocietal. The ICANL is a nonprofit organization established with the support of the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American College of Nuclear Physicians (ACNP), the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM), and the Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Section. Representatives from these sponsoring organizations, including both physicians and technologists, serve on the ICANL Board Of Directors.

All areas of nuclear medicine and nuclear cardiology were represented during the creation of The Standards for accreditation, and all areas continue to steer the accreditation process. It's proven successful. The ICANL was created using the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL) as a model. The ICAVL, in its second decade offering accreditation, has accredited more than 1600 vascular laboratories, and Medicare reimbursement for vascular laboratories in a majority of states hinges on either laboratory accreditation or technologist certification. Similar payment policies requiring ICANL accreditation, as detailed below, now impact nine states.

Both the ICANL and ICAVL, along with the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL), are members of the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC). It demonstrates accountability. Health care organizations are held to very high levels of accountability, by peers and by the general public. Currently, two third-party payers -- United Healthcare of Wisconsin, and Oxford Health Plans (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York) -- have implemented policies requiring their provider facilities performing nuclear cardiology procedures to be accredited.

Similar draft payment policies are pending throughout the United States. Laboratories attaining accreditation before it is required for reimbursement demonstrate a willingness to surpass current expectations. The general public and members of the nuclear medicine and nuclear cardiology communities will recognize an unmatched commitment to providing quality health care by laboratories that achieve ICANL accreditation.