Accreditation, certification: why all the confusion?

Tremendous confusion exists concerning the issues of physician certification and practice accreditation in obstetric and gynecologic ultrasonography. Certification speaks to physician competence. All obstetrician-gynecologists who have finished residency training since 1982 are deemed "competent" to perform obstetric and gynecologic ultrasonography by virtue of their training. Those trained before 1982 need to be able to describe their level of experience in performing obstetric and gynecologic ultrasonography. Accreditation deals with issues of patient safety and quality control, including equipment calibration, transducer cleaning and disinfection, universal precautions and Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, ultrasound examination protocols, and qualifications of nonphysician personnel performing ultrasound examinations. A new field of radiology benefit managers has arisen in response to attempts by health insurers to manage care, and reduce their costs and utilization. They have adopted ultrasound accreditation, originally intended to enhance patient safety, to help restrict utilization. Currently two organizations are recognized as accrediting bodies: The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), which recognizes obstetric and gynecologic residency training as evidence of competency, and The American College of Radiologists, which does not. Obstetrician-gynecologists should realize that AIUM's accreditation is their "lifeboat" in this time of increasing interference by health care insurers into decision making in clinical practice.