DIAS Accreditation During COVID-19

DIAS Accreditation During COVID-19

All medical practices offering diagnostic imaging services are required to become DIAS accredited to continue to maintain Medicare eligibility. This includes General Practitioners offering ultrasound services, practices offering magnetic resonance imaging (MRI services), practices offering X-rays, cardiac ultrasounds, angiography, mammography, fluoroscopy or any other diagnostic imaging technologies. Here’s how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this important process.

DIAS Accreditation is Continuing Through COVID-19

The most essential takeaway is that the certification process is continuing through the COVID-19 pandemic, and practices offering diagnostic imaging services need to continue the process of applying for and maintaining this accreditation in order to maintain access to Medicare benefits. However, changes have been made to the process to allow for the challenges the pandemic has incurred.

Changes to the DIAS Accreditation Process

Firstly, please note that this process is subject to change at any time. This article incorporates the latest changes to the DIAS accreditation process as of September 2020.
  • Practices unable to submit an application for DIAS re-accreditation because of the impact of COVID can receive a 6 month continuation if their current accreditation cycle falls between 1 October 2020 and 31 March 2021. This is especially important for practices where staffing has been impacted or workload has changed in response to the pandemic.
  • Medical practices that are able to submit an application that demonstrates their substantial compliance with DIAS standards can be granted a new accreditation cycle for their application that has modified conditions. This applies where evidence supporting DIAS accreditation standards for the practice is unavailable due to the pandemic, or the party providing this evidence is not available due to the pandemic.
  • If a continuation or new cycle of accreditation has been granted, practices must comply with the new deadlines and conditions, or DIAS accreditation may be revoked.
  • These changes will not impact the provision of Medicare-funded diagnostic imaging services to patients, and will not affect patient care.

Professional DIAS Accreditation Services During COVID-19

While Australia is handling the COVID-19 pandemic exceptionally well, it is important to balance precautions and the challenges this event has resulted in with the need to meet the DIAS certification criteria that determine Medicare eligibility for your practice. In order to keep operating, keep providing the best patient care, and keep accessing Medicare benefits, it’s critical to achieve and maintain DIAS accreditation.

In order to prevent this from becoming an additional administrative burden in an already high-pressure environment, Excelsior Accreditation is offering professional DIAS accreditation services for all practices and professionals offering diagnostic imaging services. We understand that your patients are your priority – as they should be – and so our services are designed to handle the time-consuming and often frustrating process of applying for DIAS accreditation, meeting the standards for certification, and maintaining accreditation over the full lifecycle.

In addition to offering 3 tiers of services that include an end-to-end DIAS accreditation and maintenance service, a partial service focusing on achieving certification, and consulting services to guide you through the process, we also offer customised services according to the unique needs of your practice. Contact us today, and we’ll transform this process into an opportunity for your practice to grow.