New Case Study Requirements
And Application Updates

from the April 2004 issue

It is an exciting time for the ICAVL with many changes scheduled to take place over the next year. In the spring of 2002, a customer satisfaction survey was conducted by the ICAVL to assess how the organization could better serve the applicant laboratories while maintaining the integrity of the accreditation process. In response to the feedback obtained from that survey, the ICAVL has been working to make significant revisions to the application and the Essentials and Standards. The new version of the electronic application and the ICAVL Standards will be released later this year, and these changes will be made available to all laboratories that have previously purchased the application.

As with many changes, the process of revising the application CD-ROM is somewhat lengthy, but the ICAVL would like to afford some of the benefits of the updated application to those laboratories that might be applying for accreditation or reaccreditation prior to the availability of the new version of the application.

There has been a significant reduction in the number of items that you will need to send with the application, such as eliminating copies of the laboratory floor plan, the testing schedule, physician licenses, technologist credential cards and more. These items will need to be kept on file in the laboratory in the event they would be requested by the ICAVL, but the copying, organizing and sending will be eliminated.

For those laboratories seeking reaccreditation, the number of case studies has decreased, thereby making the task of collecting, copying and submitting examinations less time-consuming and less expensive. Cases will be held tightly to the ICAVL requirements and your best work should be submitted.

Here you will find a revised list of the attachments to be submitted with the Organization application (see Figure 1), as well as a chart listing the required case studies to be submitted with your testing applications for both the initial accreditation and the reaccreditation applications (see Figure 2). If you plan to submit your application prior to receiving these official changes, you are encouraged to use this list as a reference for what to submit until that time. These changes are effective immediately.

The ICAVL remains dedicated to responding to the needs of the vascular laboratory community and to promoting high quality noninvasive vascular diagnostic testing, and we thank you for your participation in the ICAVL accreditation process.

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FIGURE 1.

revised attachment list for the organization application Though many of the original attachments for the Organization application are no longer required, it is still necessary to answer all questions in the application. Please note that all attachments previously required for submission in the Organization application are essential to the laboratory and are required to be available to the ICAVL if requested. The only Organization Application Attachments that are now required are: 1.1.2 Medical Director Formal Training Letter (if applicable) Medical Director Informal Training Letter (if applicable) 1.3.2 Medical Staff Formal Training Letter (if applicable) Medical Staff Informal Training Letter (if applicable) Attestation Page: signed by all medical and technical staff members. **If a consultant is used to complete the application, please have the consultant sign the Attestation Page as well. All attachments for the testing applications must be submitted as required by the current application.