Washington, D.C. – The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) today said that patients and healthcare providers will benefit from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate that medical imaging and radiation therapy (RT) equipment in hospitals must be maintained according to the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance standard. The hospital equipment maintenance requirements took effect in January and implementation of the related Joint Commission standard begins today.

“The execution of this maintenance standard is critical to promoting the safety of patients and equipment operators,” said Gail Rodriguez, executive director of MITA. “MITA commends CMS for protecting public health and recognizing the value of the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance standard in supporting high-quality imaging and RT services in their 2013 directive. Thanks to the Joint Commission’s efforts, these requirements will benefit patients and healthcare providers across the country.”

Manufacturer-recommended maintenance promotes system performance and reliability, so hospitals, healthcare providers and patients can depend on these critical, life-saving technologies.

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The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), a division of NEMA, is the collective voice of medical imaging equipment, radiation therapy and radiopharmaceutical manufacturers, innovators and product developers. It represents companies whose sales comprise more than 90 percent of the global market for medical imaging and radiation therapy technologies. For more information, visit www.medicalimaging.org. Follow MITA on Twitter @MITAToday.