ICAEL Grants Accreditation to Visiting Physicians Association Diagnostic Services

March 21, 2011 - PRLog -- Visiting Physicians Association® Diagnostic Services (“VPA® Diagnostic Services”) was granted accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL).  Echocardiography is a noninvasive diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasound to study the structure and motions of the heart.  Participation in the accreditation process is voluntary. Accreditation status signifies that the facility has been reviewed by an independent agency which recognizes the laboratory’s commitment to quality testing for the diagnosis of heart disease.  

VPA Diagnostics Services whose corporate office is located in Troy, MI, services patients throughout Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.  The laboratory is one of a growing number of echocardiography laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to be so recognized for its commitment to high quality patient care and its provision of quality diagnostic testing.  

According to the American Heart Association (www.heart.org), one American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, disorders or the heart and blood vessels.  Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States costing society over 83.7 billion dollars each year in health services, medications and lost work time due to disability.  

Cardiac structure and flow information provided by echocardiographic testing is useful in the detection and management of many types of heart disease. This noninvasive test has become one of the standard diagnostic tools in cardiology with an estimated 10 million echocardiograms performed annually in the United States.  Echocardiography is a complex imaging technique that relies on the experience and training of both the physician and sonographer. Their interpretive and technical abilities determine the diagnostic accuracy of an echocardiographic examination.  The ICAEL has developed an accreditation program which evaluates the quality of these and other critical elements of an echocardiography laboratory.

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The ICAEL was established with the support of the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE), the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Society of Pediatric Echocardiography (SOPE) to provide a peer review mechanism to encourage and recognize the provision of quality echocardiographic diagnostic evaluations by a process of voluntary accreditation. For more information visit www.icae.org.

VPA Diagnostic Services is the diagnostic testing division of Visiting Physicians Association (“VPA”). VPA is the nation’s leader in house call medicine having made over 2 million home visits over the last decade. VPA Diagnostic Services has over 20 years of experience in mobile diagnostic care and uses state-of the art digital imaging technology to provide hospital-quality testing in the comfort of the patient’s home. They service over 26,000 patients annually in FL, KY, IN, MI, OH, TX, VA and WI. For more information, call 800-759-7291 or visit www.visitingphysicians.com.