Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists Receives Nuclear Laboratory Accreditation

Posted Date: 9/9/2011

Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists, a Tanner Medical Group practice, has received accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (ICANL) for the nuclear cardiology stress testing laboratories located inside its Carrollton and Villa Rica offices.

“ICANL accreditation status signifies that our facilities have been reviewed by an independent agency that recognizes our commitment to quality testing for the diagnosis of heart disease,” said Onaje Greene, MD, FACC, FASNC, medical director of non-invasive cardiology and a board-certified nuclear cardiologist with Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists. “Nuclear cardiology testing procedures are vital to saving hearts and lives in the communities we serve. These tests allow the cardiologists here at Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists to detect the presence of cardiovascular disease in our patients and to discover important information about the potential for future heart attacks.”

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, as well as in west Georgia. In fact, an American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, which includes disorders of the heart and blood vessels.

Each year in the U.S., approximately 5.5 million nuclear cardiology stress tests are performed. During this test, the heart is evaluated for pump function and blood flow while at rest and during exercise, using a small amount of radioisotope during the noninvasive procedure. A complex imaging technique, nuclear cardiology testing relies on the experience and training of both the technologist and physician, whose interpretive and technical abilities determine the diagnostic accuracy of the examination.

The ICANL’s peer review mechanism evaluates the quality of these and other critical elements of a nuclear cardiology laboratory. A non-profit organization, ICANL is dedicated to ensuring high quality patient care and promoting heart health. Although participation in the ICANL accreditation process is voluntary, accreditation will be required by Medicare at a future date.
 
“The ICANL’s accreditation committee sets the standards that require outpatient facilities to employ certified nuclear medicine technologists, raising the bar for the quality of the study,” said Lisa Wyatt, a certified nuclear medicine technologist and technical director of the nuclear cardiology labs at Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists who put a lot of effort into the accreditation process. “This ensures that our patients are getting the best test and most accurate results possible.”

At Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists, Dr. Greene practices with Christopher Arant, MD, FACC; Shazib Khawaja, MD, FACC, FSCAI, FSVM; and William Rogers, MD, MAAC, FAAC. The practice has locations in Carrollton, Villa Rica, Bremen and Woodland, Ala.

For more information, call Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists at 770.836.9326 or visit www.heartandvascularspecialists.org.

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