Hospital lab earns national accreditation

NEWTON, N.J. — Newton Memorial Hospital has announced that its Echocardiography Laboratory recently earned accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL). This accreditation makes Newton Memorial Hospital’s Echocardiography Laboratory one of the first 1,000 echocardiography laboratories in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico to be recognized for its commitment to high quality patient care and its provision of quality diagnostic testing, according to the ICAEL. Newton Memorial must renew its accreditation every three years. The process involves a review by the ICAEL, which will evaluate the laboratory’s commitment to quality testing of heart disease. “Earning this accreditation demonstrates Newton Memorial Hospital’s commitment to providing the highest levels of quality care from our Cardiac Suite, the Charles L. Tice Heart Center for Diagnostic Services, where Echocardiograms are performed,” Newton Memorial Hospital CEO and President Tom Senker said. One American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, disorders of the heart and blood vessels. Information regarding cardiac structure, function and blood flow through the heart provided by echocardiographic testing is useful in the diagnosis and management of many types of heart disease and abnormalities. The non-invasive test has become one of the standard diagnostic tools in cardiology with an estimated 10 million echocardiograms performed each year in the U.S. Echocardiography is a complex imaging technique that relies on the experience and training of both the physician and the sonographer, whose interpretive and technical abilities determine the accuracy of the examinations. The ICAEL has developed an accreditation program which evaluates the quality of these and other critical elements of an echocardiography laboratory. ICAEL has accredited more than 700 Echocardiography Laboratories. Beginning March 1, Medicare reimbursements in New Jersey will only go to Accredited Echocardiography Laboratories with Registered Sonographers.