The societies have updated and expanded their guidelines for appropriate cardiac nuclear imaging, but how are they being implemented into daily clinical practice?

Independent nuclear laboratories are under a mandate to achieve accreditation by Jan. 1, 2012, to continue receiving Medicare reimbursement. While maneuvering the varied accreditation processes requires practice management savvy—causing some practices to prolong the process—the impending deadline is approaching fast.

Data from the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories suggest that while non-compliance with reporting standards is found in the majority of U.S. nuclear cardiology laboratories, facilities that participate in the accreditation process demonstrate an increase in compliance over time. The retrospective study was published online June 19 in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology.

Despite the fact that appropriate use criteria have been developed to help guide myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), women remain undertested. A study published this week in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology showed that the vast majority of inappropriate MPI studies were ordered in women by primary care physicians, alluding to the fact that more education for physicians will be crucial.