Center for perinatal care earns first-in-the-nation ultrasound accreditation trifecta
Collaboration between UnityPoint Health – Meriter & UW Health
MADISON, Wis. — The Center for Perinatal Care (CPC), located at UnityPoint Health – Meriter hospital, is the first program in the nation to receive ultrasound practice accreditation in three key areas of prenatal imaging.
The CPC, which is a joint program of the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and UnityPoint Health – Meriter, has now received accreditation in all trimesters of Obstetrical Ultrasound, Fetal Echocardiography and the Detailed Fetal Anatomic Ultrasound.
“We performed more than 10,000 ultrasound exams last year at the Center for Perinatal Care, many of them during high-risk pregnancies,” said Kathy Kostrivas, Executive Director of Mother-Baby Care. “This accreditation will help reassure mothers-to-be that they are truly at one of the most advanced centers in the nation when it comes to their babies’ prenatal care.”
Accreditation is awarded by the Ultrasound Practice Accreditation Council of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). The CPC was the first in the country to be awarded accreditation for the Detailed Fetal Anatomic Ultrasound exam and was the first in Wisconsin to receive the Fetal Echocardiography accreditation. It is the only center in the Wisconsin and one of just 17 in the nation to currently hold all three of these accreditations.
The CPC achieved this recognition by meeting rigorous voluntary guidelines set by the diagnostic ultrasound profession, including the training and qualifications of physicians and sonographers; ultrasound equipment maintenance and quality assurance testing; documentation, reporting, storage and record-keeping practices; policies and procedures to protect patients and staff; quality assurance and improvement methods; and the thoroughness, technical quality and interpretation of the sonograms the practice performs.
The Prenatal Diagnosis Center of the CPC has been providing high quality obstetrical ultrasound exams for Madison and its surrounding communities for more than 20 years and is a major referral site for high risk pregnancies in Wisconsin.
