September 4, 2007
A meeting of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) Advisory Committee was held
on May 8, 2007, at the Menifee Valley Campus of Mt San Jacinto College (MSJC).
Minutes of the meeting follow:
1. Attendees. The following members were present at the meeting.
Robin Badillo
Branford Bowen
Steve Calder
Amy Flanagan
Sandra Jackson
Joyce Johnson
Arleen LaBoy
Ruben Millan
Sharon Myers-Durbin
Colleen Saunders
Fred White
Owner Unique/Ultrasound
Associate Faculty/Mt San Jacinto College
Imaging Director/Hemet Valley Imaging
Interim Ultrasound Manager/Southwest Health Care
System/Rancho Springs
Radiology Director/Southwest Health Care System
Associate Dean, Nursing Mt San Jacinto College
Program Director/Diagnostic Medical Sonography/Mt
San Jacinto College
Senior Sonographer/Rancho Springs Medical Center
Faculty/Mt San Jacinto College
Associate Faculty/Clinical Site Instructor/Mt San
Jacinto College
Hemet Valley Imaging
2. Welcome & Introductions
Joyce Johnson, Associate Dean of Nursing, opened the meeting at 8:00 am. She
welcomed the attendees and introduced Ms. Arleen LaBoy, Program Director for the
Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program. She explained the importance of Advisory
Committees to the college. The college must determine if its programs are relevant and
current. Input is needed from businesses and industry to guide us in this process. The
members introduced themselves.
3. DMS Program Updates
a. Program Changes
Changes were made to the DMS program to bring it into compliance with new
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP)
guidelines, new Medicare reimbursement regulations, and American Registry for
Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) prerequisite criteria.
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Prerequisites for the program were change to the following:
 Human Anatomy and Physiology I – 4 units
 Human Anatomy and Physiology II – 4 units
 Conceptual Physics – 3 units
 Interpersonal Communications – 3 units
 Elementary Algebra – 3 units
The following program courses were added:
 Medical Terminology
 Medical Ethics
 Techniques in Patient Care
 Pathophysiology
In addition, the sequence of courses was rearranged and additional association
faculty members were hired.
b. Changes to Medicare Reimbursement Regulations
Below is a summary of the changes to the Medicare reimbursement regulations
as of April 2006. Complete copies of the regulations were passed out to the attendees.
ABDOMINAL
All abdominal and retroperitoneal diagnostic studies must be either (1) performed
by a trained physician, or (2) performed under the general supervision of a
trained physician by a technologist who has demonstrated minimum entry level
competency by being credentialed as described below, or (3) performed in
laboratories accredited in abdominal ultrasound.
When a physician is not the sonographer, appropriate and required technologist
certification is: preferably the Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer
(RDMS) credential preferably with specialization in abdominal studies, or the
Registered Vascular Technologist (RVT) credential from the American Registry
for Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
VASCULAR
All noninvasive vascular diagnostic studies must be either (1) performed by a
trained physician, or (2) performed under the general supervision of a trained
physician by a technologist that has demonstrated minimum entry level
competency by being credentialed in vascular technology, and/or (3) performed
in laboratories accredited in vascular technology.
When the physician is not the sonographer, appropriate and required
technologist certification is: the Registered Vascular Technologist credential
from the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS), with
specialization in the body part studied, or, the Registered Vascular Specialist
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(RVS) credential from the Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI).
c. American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS)
Requirements
Ms. LaBoy explained that after changes were made, MSJC now meets
prerequisite number one criteria for ARDMS. Below are the criteria.
Prerequisite requirements for a non-accredited program:

Education
A single two-year allied health education program that is patient-care related¹
Allied health occupations include, but are not limited to, diagnostic medical
sonographer, radiologic technologist, respiratory therapist, occupational

Required Clinical Ultrasound/Vascular Experience Documentation
Required with Application
12 months of full-time² clinical ultrasound/vascular experience³ Note: If you
are using your DMS program for the educational requirement, you still have to
document an additional 12 months of clinical ultrasound/vascular experience
earned outside the two-year program
¹ A two-year allied health education program that is patient care related is
defined as (1) 24 full-time consecutive calendar months or (2) 60 semester
credits or (3) 84 quarter credits (4) and requiring a clinical internship/
externship to complete the program. Credit hours are based on U.S.
equivalency in a post secondary institution. Transcripts reflecting clock hours
must be converted to credit hours.² Full-time is defined as 35 hours per week,
at least 48 weeks per year. If working part time, the requirements are prorated.
d. Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs
(CAAHEP) Requirements
Our goal is to become an accredited program under CAAHEP as soon as
possible. This accreditation requires all of our program’s clinical instructors to be
credentialed, specifically in abdominal and OB/GYN. We also need more clinical sites.
4. Input from Business Partners

The business partners expressed concerns about getting their currently
employed sonographers to sit for their ARDMS exams since their sonographers
work full time and don’t have time to study. They asked us to help find some
creative ways in which we could help facilitate that effort.
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
A member asked why MSJC doesn’t have a vascular program in addition to the
general program. Members expressed their need as well as the need of the
community for registered vascular technologist. There is a shortage of vascular
technologist when compared to general sonographers. There is a concern due
to the new Medicare reimbursements regulations and their affect on general
sonographers performing activities that come under the purview of a vascular
technologist. They want to be able to hire credentialed RVT sonographers so as
to come into compliance with the new Medicare regulations.

Members are pleased with the changes made to the program and the new length
of the program.

Members stated that they are pleased to hear that our priority is it be CAAHEP
accredited
5. Ms. LaBoy asked the attendees to provide ideas they may have about how we can
resolve the challenge of getting clinical site sonographers credentialed. She also asked
them to e-mail any comments, thoughts, or suggestions at any time.
6. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:30am.