Diagnostic Imaging Accreditation

Frequently Asked Questions

Which services have to be accredited?

All diagnostic imaging services in the Medicare Benefits Schedule must be registered to be accredited before 20 June except the following:

·          Cardiac Ultrasound

·          Cardiac Angiography

·          Obstetric and Gynaecological Ultrasound

·          Nuclear Medicine Imaging

What are the standards?

You can access the standards from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing website http://www.health.gov.au/diagnosticimaging

How much is the cost of assessment?

·          Depends on the size of the organisation and the number of practitioners

·          As a guide the total charges will range from $300 and include all registration, desktop auditing processes, supporting material and assistance

·          Once ACHS receives the necessary information about the organisation then a specific quote can be provided

After the online registration, what do services need to do?

·          Services need to register with an accreditation provider no later than 20 June 2008, or else they will no longer receive Medicare benefits after 1 July 2008

·          After registration, organisations need to apply for accreditation and at that time ACHS will send them the self-assessment requirements for their assessments for the Stage 1 Accreditation Standards

·          Application for accreditation must be made no later than the end of June 2009

Do we need to register for each site of our service (say we have 6 sites)?

Yes, each site requires separate registration

What is an imaging practitioner?

ACHS has classified the size of an organisation by the number of practitioners (ie radiographers, radiologists and sonographers as full time equivalent positions employed)

What if our imaging services have changed since we applied for the LSPN?

Your LSPN is recorded on the Diagnostic Imaging Register. If you have not kept the imaging equipment recorded against your LSPN up-to-date with Medicare, your application for registration/accreditation of an unrecorded imaging modality will be unsuccessful. To update the imaging equipment recorded against your LSPN, please contact Medicare Australia on the toll-free number 1800 620589

What if my organisation is responsible for multiple imaging sites?

Every imaging site needs to be individually accredited – you should complete the online application form separately for each of your sites.

You should name your sites using your organisational name first

For example: If the Northside Area Health Service has practices in TownOne and VillageTwo, it could record the name of its sites as ‘Northside AHS – TownOne’ and ‘Northside AHS – VillageTwo Radiology’.

The ACHS registration form includes two sets of contact details. Enter your own name as the 'preferred accreditation contact' on applications for all your sites. The address and phone numbers for the site itself will differ on each of your applications

Before we register, are we going to lose our Medicare benefit if we have been approved for Medicare benefits?

You will not lose your Medicare benefit so long as you are registered with a Commonwealth recognised accreditation provider prior to 30 June 2008