Will you be accrediting or reaccrediting with IAC soon? The Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) has released updates to adult echo and vascular testing accreditation to become effective February 2016. Included are changes in credentialing and quality improvement that you will want to know about before your next accreditation! Check out this article highlighting the major differences in the new standards.

IAC Standards Update

Adult Echo (ICAEL) Standards

The IAC Standards are routinely updated and most are aware to be on the lookout every two years for the latest update. This recent update, released this month, had credentialing changes for echo and quality improvement changes for both echo and vascular. Here is a rundown of the updates that become effective in February 2016. ADULT ECHO (ICAEL) STANDARDS Some of the major changes include:

1. The Testamur status by the National Board of Echocardiography is now preferred, not required, for medical directors.
2. By January 31, 2017, all technical staff must have obtained an appropriate credential in echocardiography.
3. Quality Improvement Meeting Requirements have been reduced from quarterly meetings to only meeting twice a year.
4. Clinical Correlation requirements have been reduced from quarterly requirements to annual requirements. Instead of 2 cases per testing area per quarter, the new requirement now only require 2 cases per testing area per year (with a minimum of four cases annually if only applying for one modality).
5. Peer Review still requires both physician interpretation peer review and Technical quality review each quarter. The results must be reviewed in QI meetings.
6. AUC has now been changed to ‘Test Appropriateness’ and will be based on new terminology but still requires that 30 reports per modality are checked for the appropriateness of the testing indication.

Vascular (ICAVL) Standards

The Quality Improvement Measures for IAC Standards for Vascular Testing accreditation have completely changed and are now aligned with the format used for Quality Improvement with Adult Echo. The major change is the removal of the clinical correlation logs that used to require 30 clinical correlations per testing area. This is a relief to many labs that struggled to gather this data! The Quality Improvement Program now requires:

1. Report review –New Requirement! Review reports for completeness and timeliness. No set amount required
2. Clinical Correlation – The requirement was greatly reduced from 30 to only 2 per testing area each year (If only one testing area a minimum total of 4 cases per year). Clinical Correlation is now referred to as ‘Case Review’.
3. Peer Review – New Requirement! Physician peer review and Sonographer Technique review
4. QI Meetings – 2 meetings a year
5. Test Appropriateness – New Requirement! Reports must be checked for the appropriateness of the testing indication.

Accreditation Help

There are tools and resources available to help you with the accreditation process and the maintenance of mandated Quality Improvement Measures. First and foremost are the amazing staff at IAC (Intersocietal Accreditation Commission), they are always happy to answer any questions and point you in the right direction. Another option if additional help is needed would be to seek the advice of a professional accreditation consultant. Finally, there is now new accreditation software available for certain IAC modalities that streamlines and automates the gathering of QI data. To learn more about hiring a professional consultant or using new accreditation software contact us. To view a personalized demo of echo accreditation software click here.