Questions to ask a consultant:
(Responses from KRP Accreditation Specialists, Inc. are in italics.)

Q. How long have you been a consultant?
A. 12 years (October, 1994)

Q. How many laboratories have you successfully completed?
A. Over 200 vascular laboratories and 125 echo laboratories.

Q. Do you offer the preparation of laboratory-specific policies and procedures?
A.Yes, we provide examples of policies and procedures that have been designed to be in compliance with the Standards from ICAVL/ICAEL. We can customize these policies to conform to your laboratory specific operations. This is considered to be the most time saving benefit to hiring a consultatnt. Upon completion of the accreditation process, every lab receives a complete copy of submitted documentation in binder form. Two disks, one with the electronic application data and one with all policies designed for the laboratory during this process are included in this material.

Q. Do you provide assistance in developing internal programs with areas such as quality assurance, peer review, CME, and case study generation?
A. Yes, this is a much more efficient process when the data is well organized and developed to comply with operational demands. Most labs don't know where to begin when developing these programs and become easily overwhelmed. Many times the procedure becomes too complex for daily operations and fails. With reaccreditation due every three years, a long term program that will ensure commitment to these policies is imperative. We can assist you in developing streamlined procedures to ensure that these tasks get done.

Q. If our lab is delayed, will you help us with the resubmission of materials until our lab is accredited?
A. Absolutely! Our goal is to assist you through the entire process, from start to successful accreditation. If, for any reason, your lab is delayed, we will continue working with you to resolve the issues without additional fees.

Q. What are the most common issues that cause delays?
A. Many times issues that have led to the delay are due to poor compliance of the required ICAVL/ICAEL published Standards. We encourage all participants in the accreditation to carefully read the Standards before beginning the process. This ensures that they will become familiar with directives and mandates and are willing to comply with the requirements.

Q. Have any of your labs ever been site visited or denied accreditation?
A. No. The IAC randomly performs site visits to ensure quality assurance internally. All nuclear cardiology labs are site visited as part of the review process prior to granting the accreditation from ICANL.

Q. Why is reaccreditation so complex?
A. Reaccreditation should not be so difficult. When you complete the initial accreditation, you agree to conform to the Standards of IAC. If you continue with the proposed policies, the data collection and ongoing QA should be concurrent. Changes are required for new staff members, CME's, volume numbers and updated QA statistical data. Case study selection can be acquired in the month prior to reaccreditation submission.