Few hospitals in the country have reached a milestone that Corewell Health Beaumont Troy Hospital has: 20 consecutive years of accreditation for its echocardiography laboratory.

Martin McGough, M.D., medical director of noninvasive laboratories at Troy, has been with the system for 25 years, and has witnessed the evolution of the lab and the commitment to care his team embodies. He oversees a team of 46 as well as 14 machines. Troy was among the first hospitals to receive accreditation for its echo lab in 2003.

“We got accredited the second year it was available in the country,” Dr. McGough said. “There are not many hospitals who have had it that long.”

Maintaining accreditation with that kind of consistency and longevity is no simple task.

“Everybody has to buy in. We need the right equipment; we need the staff. The technicians and physicians have to be certified — and continuously enhancing their skills,” Dr. McGough explained. “There needs to be a commitment to how fast we do the studies and how well we do them. And, we need to keep the equipment updated.”

As with any form of technology, if it’s not up-to-date, the production quality decreases and the information is not as reliable.

“Echoes are critical — they are absolutely essential,” Dr. McGough said. “It’s a huge amount of data that alters patient care. Our policy is that we get the echoes done almost always on the same day, so the doctors can have all the information they need to act in a timely fashion. Everybody has to be on the same page for this team to be as successful as it is.”

In addition to equipment/software updates and continuing medical education, the echo team also engages in ongoing quality monitoring and peer review to make sure good studies are consistently produced.

“We are certainly well above average in how well we do this,” Dr. McGough said, adding that dedication is No. 1. “From top to bottom, we are committed to this.”