For immediate release: Lowell Kabnick, MD, RPhS, FACS, FACPh, Director of NYU Vein Center, has been elected as President of the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) Vein Center Division for the standardization of and improvement of care delivery for patients suffering from venous diseases.  In this role, he will be leading a team to develop accreditation standards for facilities involved in the diagnosis and treatment of venous disease, including for varicose veins and deep venous disease.

The need for accreditation of facilities beyond the accreditation for physicians has arisen due to the expansion of treating physicians beyond the traditional Vascular Surgeons and Interventional Radiologists  to specialists including: Cardiologists, Dermatologists, Obstetricians/Gynecologists, and other specialists with a variety of backgrounds (surgical and non-surgical) and disparate training (weekend courses to fellowships).  Accrediting facilities that house vein treatments will help ensure standards of care are defined and met, regardless of specialty. Vein centers, defined as any place where venous evaluation, management, and/or treatment procedures are performed, who seek accreditation from the IAC should expect to achieve benchmarks for quality based on procedures and outcomes as well as to have the facility meet standards around required equipment/instruments; instrument sterilization; emergency medications; fluoroscopy – certification and maintenance.  

A center must be led under the guidance of a qualified Medical Director.  While achieving these goals will be the baseline for becoming an accredited vein treatment facility, there will still be some vein centers who surpass these goals.. “If we are ever to achieve accountable care with improved patient outcomes, we must ensure that the most current best practices are being utilized to treat superficial venous disease, deep venous disease, and lymphatic disease.  Developing these standards across disciplines can prove challenging, so we have created cross-functional, cross-societal team to develop the guidelines for treatment facilities, thereby ensuring the minimums will be met for any center who wishes to carry the accredited seal,” stated Dr. Kabnick. On Monday, September 9^th, at the American College of Phlebology conference in Boston, he presented the rationale for Vein Center accreditation and gave a brief outline for the accreditation guidelines.

For more information or to reach Dr. Kabnick, visit https://lowellkabnickmd.com.