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JAMESTOWN - WCA Hospital, the area's regional health care leader, has been granted accreditation for its Stereotactic Breast Biopsy program by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The accreditation is for a three-year period.

The ACR awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation of the practice. Board-certified physicians and medical physicists, who are experts in the field, conduct evaluations. They access the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of the facility equipment.

To achieve this status, WCA Hospital had to earn accreditation in all of the American College of Radiology's voluntary, breast-imaging accreditations including, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound and ultrasound-guided breast biopsy, and mammography.

"We are very proud to receive this important designation from the ACR which recognizes our strength in quality breast imaging," said Betsy T. Wright, WCA Hospital President/CEO. "Earning this designation informs our community that we provide the highest level of quality services. We congratulate everyone involved in this outstanding achievement,"

WCA Hospital opened the Center For Imaging & Medical Arts in 2008, which is part of the hospital's overall diagnostic program.

The Center For Imaging was recently designated a "Breast Imaging Center of Excellence" - the only imaging center in Chautauqua County to earn this designation. The center is located directly behind WCA Hospital, and provides a unique concept of centralizing diagnostic and imaging services under a convenient consumer-friendly outpatient environment designed with comfort, privacy, and convenience in mind. The center offers women and men same day mammogram results, bone density testing, outpatient laboratory services and provides access to the most advanced technology and services available.

The ACR is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic-interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists and nuclear medicine and medical physicists with program focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of health care services.

For more information on stereotactic breast biopsy, patients should contact their primary care provider or contact the Center For Imaging & Medical Arts at WCA at 664-8448.