When a civilian patient needs to get a Magnetic Resonance Image many insurance companies insist patients find an accredited facility. The facility should have high quality images and the best staff practices.

Patients visiting Blanchfield Army Community Hospital can rest assured knowing the MRI section of Radiology has just been awarded a three year accreditation after a recent review by the American College of Radiology. This achievement places BACH on the same level as civilian facilities that receive top referrals due to accreditation.

Board certified radiologists and physicists who are experts in the field evaluate personnel qualifications, equipment performance, effectiveness of quality control measures and quality of clinical images as part of the accreditation process. According to the ACR, these are the primary factors that impact the quality of clinical images and the quality of patient care.

“We’re really proud that our MRI section took the initiative to get accredited,” said Maj. Andrew Fong, BACH’s chief of radiology. “Meeting the standards set by the ACR translates into better patient care, because improved image quality equals better diagnoses.”

The accreditation process took around eight months from start to finish. Fong commended the technologists and staff for their work to get MRI accredited. “It is a very labor intensive process and our chief MRI technologist, Glen Cottrell, took on the brunt of the work,” said Fong. 

“It was worth the work because patients coming to BACH now know that they get the same high quality imaging at BACH as they would at a top notch civilian facility,” said Cottrell.

“We already knew it, now the patients know it as well,” he added with a smile.

Patients can visit http://www.acr.org/accreditation/accreditedFacilitySearch.aspx to search for accredited facilities.