ACR to accredit all U.S. VA radiation oncology facilities

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has chosen the American College of Radiology (ACR) as the accrediting organization for all VA hospital radiation oncology facilities across the United States.

Thirty-three VA facilities will go through the ACR accreditation process over the next three years.

There are currently more than 200 U.S. radiation oncology facilities that are ACR accredited or in the accreditation review process. The ACR said its accreditation is a process of both self-assessment and independent external expert audit, based on the ACR guidelines and technical standards, which assesses the qualifications of personnel, policies and procedures, equipment specifications, QA activities, patient safety and the quality of patient care.

The ACR said accreditation requires that the physicians providing radiation therapy treatment to patients meet stringent education and training standards. ACR accreditation also requires that the equipment is surveyed regularly by qualified medical physicists to ensure that it is functioning properly, and that the radiation therapists administering the treatments are appropriately certified.

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