Intersocietal Accreditation Commission Accreditation Status of Outpatient Cerebrovascular Testing Facilities Among Medicare Beneficiaries: The VALUE Study

Accreditation of cerebrovascular ultrasound laboratories by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) and equivalent organizations is supported by the Joint Commission certification of stroke centers. Limited information exists on the accreditation status and geographic distribution of cerebr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ultrasound in medicine 2016-09, Vol.35 (9), p.1957-1965
Main Authors: Brown, Scott C, Wang, Kefeng, Dong, Chuanhui, Farrell, Mary Beth, Heller, Gary V, Gornik, Heather L, Hutchisson, Marge, Needleman, Laurence, Benenati, James F, Jaff, Michael R, Meier, George H, Perese, Susana, Bendick, Phillip, Hamburg, Naomi M, Lohr, Joann M, LaPerna, Lucy, Leers, Steven A, Lilly, Michael P, Tegeler, Charles, Katanick, Sandra L, Alexandrov, Andrei V, Siddiqui, Adnan H, Rundek, Tatjana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accreditation - methods
Ambulatory Care Facilities - standards
Cerebrovascular Disorders - diagnosis
Cerebrovascular Disorders - diagnostic imaging
Humans
Medicare
Societies, Medical
Ultrasonography - standards
United States
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Summary:Accreditation of cerebrovascular ultrasound laboratories by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) and equivalent organizations is supported by the Joint Commission certification of stroke centers. Limited information exists on the accreditation status and geographic distribution of cerebrovascular testing facilities in the United States. Our study objectives were to identify the proportion of IAC-accredited outpatient cerebrovascular testing facilities used by Medicare beneficiaries, describe their geographic distribution, and identify variations in cerebrovascular testing procedure types and volumes by accreditation status. As part of the VALUE (Vascular Accreditation, Location, and Utilization Evaluation) Study, we examined the proportion of IAC-accredited facilities that conducted cerebrovascular testing in a 5% Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services random Outpatient Limited Data Set in 2011 and investigated their geographic distribution using geocoding. Among 7327 outpatient facilities billing Medicare for cerebrovascular testing, only 22% (1640) were IAC accredited. The proportion of IAC-accredited cerebrovascular testing facilities varied by region (χ(2)[3] = 177.1; P < .0001), with 29%, 15%, 13%, and 10% located in the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West, respectively. However, of the total number of cerebrovascular outpatient procedures conducted in 2011 (38,555), 40% (15,410) were conducted in IAC-accredited facilities. Most cerebrovascular testing procedures were carotid duplex, with 40% of them conducted in IAC-accredited facilities. The proportion of facilities conducting outpatient cerebrovascular testing accredited by the IAC is low and varies by region. The growing number of certified stroke centers should be accompanied by more accredited outpatient vascular testing facilities, which could potentially improve the quality of stroke care.
ISSN:0278-4297
1550-9613
DOI:10.7863/ultra.15.08021