CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) – On Tuesday, the University of Virginia Health System announced it's being honored nationally for its high-quality heart imaging.

According to a release, the Heart and Vascular Center is one of just 46 facilities recognized nationally for a long-standing commitment to excellent heart imaging.

Echocardiograms, using ultrasound waves to examine the heart's structure and function, was one of the programs selected for this accreditation.

The Intersocietal Accreditation Commission also recognized the adult echocardiography lab for maintaining silver accreditation for 25 years.

The IAC accredits more than 2,800 health care facilities in the United States and Canada. UVA Health is one of only two health providers in Virginia to earn this award.

According to officials, it's not an easy task to become, and remain, accredited.

"Twenty-five years of continuous accreditation not only marks that we started, really right back at the very beginning, right at the forefront of accreditation. But also that we have maintained it continuously over a 25-year time period, which is no mean feat because there is a lot of hurdles to cross,” said  Jamieson Bourque, MD, the director of UVA’s Echocardiography laboratory at UVA Health.

Bourque goes on to say that UVA Health is "a triple threat" in cardiology accreditation.

"This is our most long-standing accreditation in eco, but that we're also accredited in both our vascular and our nuclear cardiology. And we're very proud of that as well,” he said.

Bourque also says that this shows Virginians, and specifically Charlottesvillians, have access to high-quality health care and high-quality diagnostic information at UVA Health when it comes to heart health.