Atlantic General Hospital Achieves Vascular Laboratory Accreditation

Atlantic General Hospital’s vascular laboratory has attained recognition for its commitment to providing a high level of patient care and quality testing for the diagnosis of vascular disease. The facility achieved accreditation by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL).

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, costing society over $83.7 billion each year in health services, medications and lost work time due to disability. Stroke, a disorder of the blood supply to the brain, is the third leading cause of death and disability in this country, with 500,000 new strokes occurring annually.

One American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, disorders of the heart and blood vessels. Each year, 2 million people in the United States alone develop deep vein thrombosis – blood clots in the veins. This affliction becomes life threatening for 500,000 of those people when the blood clot breaks loose and travels to the lungs.

Early detection of these life-threatening vascular diseases is possible through the use of noninvasive vascular testing techniques performed within vascular laboratories.
The vascular laboratory at Atlantic General Hospital, located in Berlin, Md., is one of a growing number of vascular laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to meet or exceed the ICAVL standards for noninvasive vascular testing. During the accreditation process, every aspect of the laboratory’s daily operations and its impact on the quality of health care provided to patients is assessed and reviewed. While completing the application, laboratories are required to identify and correct potential problems, revising protocols and validating quality assurance programs.

Participation in the accreditation process demonstrates the laboratory’s attention to a high level of patient care and quality testing. ICAVL accreditation is valid for a period of three years.
ICAVL is a non-profit organization established with the support of eleven medical societies including cardiology, neurology, radiology, vascular medicine, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, internal medicine and biology.