Looking Forward and Looking Back: On 20 Years in Imaging

The radiology industry has seen its shares of ups and downs during the past two decades. “In 1993, health care was in a period of chaos much like the one we are experiencing right now,” Mark Talley, COO of Medical Management Professionals (MMP), says. “The biggest fear was that everything...

Inside the Hospital–Radiology Contract of the Future

Contracts between hospitals and radiology groups are evolving to reflect the shifting requirements of health care—and both parties can expect to continue to see changes, according to Stephanie Krent, an analyst with The Advisory Board. “What we have learned, from speaking with many hospitals and radiology groups, is...

Six Steps to Improving Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction is often misunderstood by health-care providers, according to William R. Johnson, CRA, MBA, RT, system director of patient experience with Memorial Health System (Springfield, Illinois). In Los Angeles, California, on April 10, at the 2013 spring meeting of AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management, he presented “Patient Satisfaction:...

Four Deal-breakers in Hospital Imaging Transactions and How to Avoid Them

When the hospital is the buying party in an imaging joint venture, there are four potential issues that could terminate the transaction, all of which stem from due diligence. These issues include one or both parties failing to understand the distinction between fair market value and strategic value, conflicts...

Meaningful Use and Radiology: Fully Certified Versus Modular Approaches

“Why make your RIS into an electronic health record (EHR) just to satisfy meaningful use?” David Avrin, MD, PhD, asks. It is a question that Avrin, professor of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California–San Francisco, has been asking (in one form or another) since the...

Appropriateness and the ACO: How Radiology Can Position Itself to Lead

Radiology groups’ conversations with their hospital partners are undergoing an evolution, in the experience of Edward Rittweger, MD, president of Navesink Radiology (Red Bank, New Jersey). “In the past, most of the hospital discussions involving imaging have been about decreasing turnaround times and increasing efficiency in response to decreased...

The Growth Paradox: How Should Radiologists’ Behavior Be Rewarded?

All over the country, radiology practices are merging, consolidating, and forming networks in order to grow in size and, in theory, negotiate from a more powerful position while making the most of economies of scale. Tom Vaughan, MD, president of Kent Diagnostic Radiology Associates (Dover, Delaware), points out that...

Using Analytics to Achieve Strategic Goals: Quantum Imaging & Therapeutic Associates

Clinical analytics for radiology can play a critical strategic role in practice development and growth, but only if the approach to aggregating and sharing analytics is effective, according to Paul Potok, DO, radiologist and board member with Quantum Imaging & Therapeutic Associates, Inc (Lewisberry, Pennsylvania), a 40-radiologist practice. “Many...