Everything is in place from a regulatory perspective to ensure women get a high-quality mammogram. Here's how the system works. Two levels of inspection Michigan has 18 inspectors who visit the state's 329 mammography facilities each year. They also are responsible for monitoring 9,000 other X-ray facilities in Michigan at less frequent intervals. Inspections are done by appointment unless a serious problem is suspected.
Many centers try to ensure that machines are checked by physicists before the inspections.
But mammography machines and the film processors that develop the pictures can be finicky, much like a home printer or office copy machine. If a machine isn't set or used properly, problems can arise. They usually are conducted simultaneously because the federal government contracts with most states, including Michigan, to do federal inspections. There is some overlap between state and federal standards, but most in the field consider Michigan's law tougher. The federal inspection system, for example, allows a facility to pass a test for machine image quality as long as it can find a minimum number of objects on one of two X-ray pictures of a mammography testing device.