News
Eden Medical Center Only Hospital in Alameda County to Achieve “Breast Imaging Center of Excellence” Status
CASTRO VALLEY, Calif., February 12, 2009 - Eden Medical Center has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR). By meeting the rigorous standards of ACR’s voluntary, breast-imaging accreditation programs in four areas – mammography, stereotactic biopsy, breast ultrasound and breast ultrasound guided biopsy – Sutter Health affiliated-Eden Medical Center has become the only hospital in Alameda County to achieve this prestigious honor.
“We are very proud of this achievement,” said Ginny Carpenter, Eden Medical Center’s director of radiology. “To become a breast imaging center of excellence is not mandatory. We chose to apply for accreditation, spend the hours and additional expense to get further training in all four modalities, and perform the requisite number of exams.
“Our accreditation from ACR assures that the women who come to Eden for routine mammograms, and, if necessary, breast biopsies, are being screened by highly trained technologists and physicians who use the most advanced equipment to produce and analyze exact images,” she added.
To win accreditation for each breast imaging modality, Eden volunteered to submit to the ACR’s year-long, peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. All equipment is evaluated for operational performance and must have up-to-date licensing.
Technologists have to complete 200 mammogram exams and 24 stereotactic biopsies every two years, in addition to advanced training. Likewise, radiologists are required to analyze images from 960 mammograms every two years, plus 100 ultrasound breast exams, 12 ultrasound biopsies and 12 stereotactic biopsies annually, while also completing further education on each modality.
After achieving high practice standards in image quality, equipment, personnel qualifications, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs, Eden was issued the ACR certificate of accreditation and designated a Breast Center of Excellence on February 3, 2009.
The ACR, headquartered in Reston, VA, is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs for focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology, as well as the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
In addition to the full array of breast imaging services, Eden also offers patients Dual Energy X-ray Absortiometry, or DEXA scanning, the most widely used method to measure bone mineral density. For additional information about the ACR accreditation or Eden Medical Center’s diagnostic imaging services, or to schedule an appointment call (510) 889-5044.
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Serving patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, hospitals and other health care service providers join resources and share expertise to advance health care quality and access. The Sutter Medical Network includes many of California’s top-performing, highest quality physician organizations as measured annually by the Integrated Healthcare Organization. Sutter-affiliated hospitals are regional leaders in cardiac care, women’s and children’s services, cancer care, orthopedics and advanced patient safety technology. For more information about the not-for-profit Sutter Health family, please visit www.sutterhealth.org.
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