Maximize MR Throughput with Efficient Scheduling

July 15, 2007 | Legislative Report

As little as one extra MRI per day can generate more than an additional $200,000 in incremental revenue annually. But most imaging centers use crude scheduling systems that do not accurately present a center’s potential throughput. David A. Dierolf, director of performance improvement, Outpatient Imaging Affiliates (OIA), Nashville, Tenn,... Read More »

Harvard Business Review: The Opposable Mind

July 15, 2007 | Legislative Report

Instead of focusing on the actions of successful leaders, an article in the June issue of the Harvard Business Review by Roger Martin looks at how successful leaders think. Martin has spent the past 15 years studying winning leaders and concludes that they all share the predisposition and ability to... Read More »

CXOFiles No.3 Marcia Flaherty: Vetting Business Opportunities at Riverside Radiology

July 15, 2007 | CXO Files

Many business opportunities for radiology groups become mired in an inability to act in the private practice sector. In order to explore the dynamics that facilitate entrepreneurial action within radiology practices, ImagingBiz.com identified a practice that has successfully developed several new service lines in the past five years:... Read More »

Radiology’s Balanced Scorecard

July 15, 2007 | The Big Picture

In business, as in life itself, success is all about balance. And in the business of radiology, balance is among the most important factors that can determine the fate of the practice. Take any position or point of view to its extreme and the result is alienation, tension, and,... Read More »

Legislative Report: Maryland Radiologists Defends State’s Anti-Self Referral Law

June 15, 2007 | Legislative Report

In 1993, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation to prohibit self-referrals by physicians for three types of imaging services to patients. They were MRI, CT, and radiation oncology. The legislation was introduced on behalf of the Maryland Hospital Association, at that time concerned about the outside influence of physician- and... Read More »

Legislative Report: CMS Transmittal Rocks IDTF World

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

Just as imaging center operators thought they had a handle on the inhospitable reimbursment and regulatory environment for 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a last-minute transmittal on January 26 that added significant changes to the 14 new compliance standards independent diagnostic testing facilities (IDTFs) must meet in... Read More »

Flying Blind

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

Many health care providers fall into the trap of spending big dollars on marketing without knowing their customers. A well-structured strategic marketing plan requires a mechanism for identifying the needs and wants of your customers.

Thoroughly understanding the market one operates in is tantamount to the strategic... Read More »

Carrot Approach to Radiologist Compensation

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

A creative radiologist compensation plan is critical for improving group and individual performance as well as attracting and retaining talent. Transforming your practice from a traditional to an incentive-based compensation plan can be accomplished through this three-phase process:

Phase I. Review and Prioritize. This phase involves an... Read More »

Marketing 201

June 12, 2007 | NONE

In the second article of a series in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, Frank Lexa, MD, and Jonathan Berlin, MD, MBA, warn radiology practices that they can waste marketing dollars if they do not observe what he refers to as the 4 P’s of marketing: product,... Read More »

NCQDIS: Now More than Ever

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

Those of us in the industry recognize that imaging is a fast-growing alternative to invasive procedures. New technology, an aging population, and declining costs of equipment are leading to more imaging procedures being performed each year.

Unfortunately, private and public payors have a tendency to react to... Read More »

Business Guru Weighs in on Radiology Leadership Issues

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

In an extensive interview to be featured in the April issue of Imaging Economics, Jim Collins, researcher, business guru, and author of the best-selling Good to Great, shed perspective on radiology’s current harsh climate and offered a glimpse of the focus of his next book, based on five... Read More »

Doshi Diagnostics Q & A: Strategy and the DRA

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

As the Deficit Reduction Act worked its way first through the machinery of the legislative process and then, later, through the millwork of implementation, imaging center operators around the country hoped they somehow might be able to scupper the part of the law affecting them before the DRA could... Read More »

EMI: The Last Cost-Cutting Frontier

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

The changing outpatient imaging business environment has made it imperative for all radiology managers to continually reduce operating expenses. Reimbursements are being squeezed by the recent Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) cuts and the multi-body part discount. The recently published Moran report, sponsored by the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition ... Read More »

The Changing Faces of Radiology

June 12, 2007 | The Big Picture

I have been musing about the past 24 years that I have been involved in the business side of radiology and how amazing the transformation of this profession has been during that time. Interestingly, the issues we face today mirror those that we faced in 1983 as prospective payment was then... Read More »

RBM Standards: Too Much of a Good Thing?

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

Most providers of quality diagnostic imaging welcome more stringent quality standards invoked by payors in the belief that higher standards will eliminate inferior providers from their markets. But as payors increasingly resort to employing radiology benefits management companies (RBMs) to help control escalating imaging costs, outpatient-imaging providers are encountering... Read More »

High Tech Imaging Utilization Soars Among Nonradiologists

June 12, 2007 | Utilization Metrics

David C. Levin, MD, unleashed a powerful tool for radiology in the form of newly crunched data illustrating the role of self-referral in the rapid growth of high-tech imaging. Presenting on Recent Trends in Utilization of the Major Imaging Modalities at the RBMA 2007 Summit in St Louis, MO, Levin... Read More »

Think Tank :  Is it Time for the Radiology (R) RVU in Medical Imaging Reimbursement?

June 12, 2007 | Think Tank

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have both stated the important goals of maintaining access for Medicare beneficiaries, reducing cost, and improving quality as we move forward into the pay-for-performance future. The payment systems used to fund Medicare’s services should... Read More »

Street Scan:  Hologic Buys Cytyc and a Foot in the OB/GYN Door

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

With its announcement that it would buy Cytyc, Marlborough, Mass, for $6.2 billion, Hologic Inc, Bedford, Mass, broadens its position in the women’s health care market and buys access to its gatekeeper: the obstetrician/gynecologist. Will the move precipitate a consolidation on the vendor side of diagnostics that would... Read More »

SIIM 2007 Report

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

The Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM, formerly SCAR) met last week in Providence, Rhode Island. Some of the hot topics included the following:

Information Sharing Among Enterprises

A notable focus at SIIM was the need for enterprises to share information outside their own... Read More »

Strategic Planning for Imaging Centers: Act with Plan in Hand

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

Imaging center success hinges on many factors, but without the volume to sustain the operation and power it toward profitability, failure is a given. Breakeven is the bare minimum any business operation must achieve to keep the doors open, yet some radiology groups and entrepreneurs in the imaging center... Read More »

CXOFiles No.2 Joseph J. McDonough Comes Full Circle, Takes Helm at Soteria

June 12, 2007 | CXO Files

Last month, peripatetic CEO Joseph J. McDonough returned to imaging after a 5-year hiatus, this time as CEO of Soteria Imaging Services, Louisville, Ky, with a mandate to grow. His last imaging stint was as CEO of International Radiology Group/American Imaging Management, Dallas, Texas, and since then he... Read More »

Real Rads Don’t Eat Quiche

June 12, 2007 | The Big Picture

And they definitely do not do “admin”.

A dilemma facing today’s increasingly complex radiology practices is an interesting one, given the fact that the forces of business are converging in a kind of perfect storm on the practice environment, creating an increasing need for a fundamental... Read More »

Breast MRI: An Imaging Center Opportunity to Raise Bar of Care

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

New guidelines from the American Cancer Society [1] recommending annual breast MRI for high-risk women are expected to result in significantly expanded demand for the study. Robert Smith, director for screening at the American Cancer Society, estimated that the new guidelines would add between 1 million and 2 million women a year... Read More »

Academic Incentive Plan: A Takeaway for Private Practice?

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

Does an incentive plan designed for an academic practice have applications in private practice? More specifically, can outpatient-focused radiology practices find something of value in an incentive plan that assigns points to various behaviors in addition to RVUs? An article by Edward Bluth, MD, chairman of radiology at Ochsner... Read More »

Data and Destiny: A Conversation with Commissure CEO Michael Mardini

June 12, 2007 | Utilization Metrics

The mantra for practice management in the post-DRA era is data management, and everyone knows how much data a radiology practice can produce. From the multitude of bills (service points) to the vast number of customers—not to mention the deluge of clinical data—radiology practices need tools. Commissure... Read More »