News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2010
MEDIA CONTACT: Joyce Brennan
Public Information Officer
Southcoast Health System
Phone: 508-961-5270
Fax: 508-961-5876
Pager: 508-387-9605
brennanj@southcoast.org
www.southcoast.org/news/releases/
Southcoast breast services recognized as “centers of excellence” by
American College of Radiology
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Southcoast Hospitals’ Breast Imaging Centers are the first in
the South Coast region to be designated as Centers of Excellence by the American College of
Radiology (ACR). Southcoast offers breast health services at nine centers across Southeastern
Massachusetts.
“Patients can feel confident that the Southcoast breast centers have achieved high practice
standards in image quality, facility equipment and quality control,” said Christine Lopiano,
Mammography Outreach Manager at Southcoast Hospitals Group. “The designation also means
our staff have the qualifications and expertise to provide this high standard of care.”
This prestigious designation is the highest accreditation offered to breast health centers
across the U.S. The status of a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the ACR recognizes
breast imaging centers that have earned accreditation in all of ACR’s voluntary, breast imaging
accreditation programs and modules, in addition to its mandatory Mammography Accreditation
Program.
Southcoast is a primary provider of breast health services in the region and offers 100
percent digital mammography services at its three hospital sites — Charlton Memorial Hospital in
Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham — and at several
offsite locations, including the Southcoast Center for Women’s Health at Faunce Corner in North
Dartmouth, Truesdale Clinic in Fall River, the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center
in New Bedford and several physician offices located in Fall River.
All nine of the Southcoast Breast Imaging Centers are accredited by ACR and three of
those are designated as Centers of Excellence for a full range of breast health modalities. They
are located at Charlton Memorial Hospital, the Southcoast Center for Women’s Health and Tobey
Hospital.
The breast imaging services at these centers are fully accredited in mammography,
stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy. Peer-review
evaluations, conducted in each breast imaging modality by board-certified physicians and medical
physicists who are experts in the field, have determined that these facilities have achieved high
practice standards in image quality, personnel qualifications, facility equipment, quality control
procedures, and quality assurance programs.
The nine Southcoast Breast Imaging Centers work as a system, coordinating a full range
of breast health services for women who may need further testing and treatment after undergoing
mammography.
“Most mammograms are normal. But if your mammogram raises any questions, we
coordinate all of the services you may need including breast ultrasound, MRI and stereotactic
breast biopsies without any stressful delays at our advanced Southcoast diagnostic centers in Fall
River, North Dartmouth and Wareham,” said Anne Ruggieri, MD, Chair of Radiology Imaging
Services at St. Luke’s and Tobey hospitals.
The American College of Radiology, headquartered in Reston, Va., is a national
organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic and interventional radiologists, radiation
oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists with programs for focusing on
the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology, as well as the delivery of comprehensive
health care services.
About Southcoast Health System & Southcoast Hospitals Group
Southcoast Health System is a community based health delivery system with multiple
access points, offering an integrated continuum of health services throughout Southeastern
Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes the three hospitals that make up
Southcoast Hospitals Group — Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke’s Hospital in
New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.
Southcoast provides advanced clinical services, such as open heart surgery, angioplasty
and heart rhythm services, neurosurgery, weight loss surgery, orthopedic surgery and advanced
imaging services and is the only provider of maternity services in the region. Southcoast is a notfor-profit charitable organization that depends on the support of the community to provide
services.
More information is available online at www.southcoast.org.
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