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IAC Newsletter

The Recent IAC Merger
& What It Means To Participating Laboratories
Summer 2008

Officially announced in April, the five individual accrediting bodies, ICAVL, ICAEL, ICANL, ICAMRL, and ICACTL, have merged to become one unified body: the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC). This is a significant change as it moves the IAC from its role as a mere management organization, as it had existed for the past twelve years, to the official accrediting body. The five accreditation programs are now organized as divisions within the IAC structure.

Rita Shugart, RN, RVT IAC Chairman

Rita Shugart, RN, RVT, IAC Chairman, reflected on the significance of the merger by commenting, "The recent IAC reorganization marks the biggest change in our history. Most notably, the improvement of streamlined business practices will enable the individual accrediting divisions to be free of the business responsibilities of running a company and instead focus on the important work of setting and maintaining standards in their areas of expertise. Participating laboratories will experience the benefits of the reorganization for years to come as we are better able to fulfill our mission of recognizing the provision of quality patient care through quality diagnostic imaging." Increased participation in the accreditation program in recent years has resulted in dramatic growth as reflected by the IAC's staff of nearly 40 individuals, along with a volunteer network of 78 board members and hundreds of application reviewers and site visitors. The merger allows for important positioning of the organization during this time of growth as the reorganization provides greater efficiency through unified accounting practices and streamlining of accreditation policies with the organization now functioning under the IAC Bylaws and the IAC Board of Directors.

It is important to stress that each of the five divisions will continue to be guided by individual division boards, will function under self-approved policies and procedures, and will have a significant degree of autonomy over the ongoing development of The Standards, respective to the division's accreditation program. The division board members will continue to be selected through the nomination process currently in place through the sponsoring organizations of each division.

The IAC is pleased with this reorganization as it will allow the individual accrediting divisions to focus on the important tasks related to recognizing and improving the provision of quality patient care through quality diagnostic imaging, thus allowing the IAC to provide increased value and services to participating laboratories.