New Jersey, Maine Hospitals Recognized as American College of Radiology’s First Diagnostic Imaging Centers of Excellence

Washington, D.C. (May 7, 2013) – The American College of Radiology (ACR) recognized medical facilities in New Jersey and Maine as the first-ever Diagnostic Imaging Centers of Excellent (DICOE), recognizing a distinctive level of excellence in diagnostic imaging. The awards to the Hackensack University Medical Center in Bergen County, N.J. and the Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, Maine were presented at the ACR annual meeting May 7 in Washington.

“The DICOE award, new in 2013, reflects excellence at multiple levels — the professional staff, the technology and the policies and procedures the organization follows — but, ultimately, it represents superior patient care,” said Debra Monticciolo, MD, chair of the American College of Radiology Quality and Safety Commission. “This is an achievement even beyond accreditation which, in itself, provides patients with high-quality diagnostic care. The DICOE recognition is synonymous with exceptional performance and a commitment to the most rigorous standards in all phases of the medical imaging enterprise.”

In order to receive this elite distinction, facilities must be accredited by the ACR in all modalities they provide, and in which the ACR offers an accreditation program. Then, an on-site team (comprised of a radiologist, a medical physicist and a radiologic technologist or ACR senior staff member) reviews all aspects of the facility’s operations, including — among other criteria — personnel, equipment specifications, outcomes measurement and quality control systems, safety policies, utilization reviews, facility management and patient outcomes.

“This is a tremendous honor and one that ratifies our organization’s commitment to providing the highest level of diagnostic care,” said Harry Agress, Jr., MD, FACR, Chairman Emeritus, Department of Radiology at Hackensack University Medical Center and a Fellow of the American College of Radiology. “Every patient who enters our facility will receive care that reflects our investment in and dedication to exceptional medical imaging technology and care delivery.”

“There is a great deal of satisfaction in being recognized with the DICOE award because it confirms our dedication and success in protecting the health of our rural, island-based population,” explained John Benson, MD, FACR, Medical Director of Medical Imaging at Mount Desert Island Hospital. “Our patients know, and this honor confirms, that they will receive the best patient-centered diagnostic care when they come through our doors.”

The ACR, headquartered in Reston, Va., is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicists, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging, interventional treatment, and radiation oncology, as well as the delivery of comprehensive health care services.