NORWAY – Stephens Memorial Hospital has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in screening and diagnostic mammography. It also is accredited in stereotactic core biopsies, both in masses and calcifications of the breast, as a result of a recent survey by the American College of Radiology.

Tim Ingram, director of clinical diagnostics, said it is fairly uncommon for a hospital of this size to regularly seek, and receive, an accreditation of this magnitude.

The ACR, headquartered in Reston, Va., awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation of its practice. Evaluations are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. They assess the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of facility equipment. The surveyors report their finding to the ACR’s Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the hospital with a comprehensive report.

The ACR is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists and medical physicists with programs for focusing on the practice of medial imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

Stephens Memorial Hospital is part of Western Maine Health, a member of the MaineHealth family.