EMG Labs of AARA
What prompted you to accredit your lab initially?
I believed it was important to demonstrate to the medical community and insurance industry that our lab was making an effort to practice EDX medicine at a level of excellence to ensure patient protection and high quality studies.
What value or benefits have you seen from accreditation?
Recognition from colleagues that our lab is dedicated to maintaining quality and safety in electrodiagnosis; and increased referrals from insurers or third parties who prefer to use accredited labs.
How did going through the accreditation process help you shore up or improve processes and procedures?
We enhanced our program of electrical safety checks on all of our EDX machines, and formalized the process with documentation annually.
What did you learn by going through the accreditation process?
I learned that I was already producing good EDX reports that met the AANEM lab accreditation standards; and that the AANEM staff was very helpful in facilitating the process toward achieving accreditation; and overall, it was less onerous than I initially thought it would be.
Did anything about the accreditation process surprise you? If so, what?
I was surprised how we were already meeting most of the requirements, but just had not collated all the documents in one place.
Why should others accredit their laboratory?
It will help any EDX lab to demonstrate that they can also meet these standards and set themselves apart from others who are less concerned or able to protect patients and produce high quality EDX studies.
Additional Comments
AANEM is an outstanding organization, dedicated to helping anyone who is committed to excellence in EDX medicine; and all EDX clinicians should take the opportunity to participate with AANEM, and to achieve lab accreditation.
