Accredited providers are be required to comply with new modality-specific imaging standards as a part of their accreditation by the Joint Commission, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.
The new rules follow medical radiation exposure accidents that were highlighted by The New York Times in 2010 and 2011.
Modality-specific accreditation criteria had previously been left to modality-level accrediting bodies whose accreditations are not required for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement for hospitals, such as the American College of Radiology (ACR) or the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission. (Modality-level accreditation is required for CMS reimbursement at independent diagnostic testing facilities), the article said.
The standards were originally announced in December 2013 but pushback from providers caused the Joint Commission to rescind the initial release for reconsideration.
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