ACR to Imaging Centers: Do Not Dither on UnitedHealth Accreditation

March 15, 2007 | Legislative Report

In announcing that all network imaging centers must be accredited by March of next year, UnitedHealthcare, Minnetonka, Minn, has added accelerated the trend toward imaging center accreditation and technical privileging requirements, The United accreditation program applies to all participating freestanding imaging centers and physician offices and is based on... Read More »

Readers Respond: Denial, Disbelief, Anger

February 15, 2007 | Legislative Report

We have had many readers respond to last month’s editorial on the failure of our elected officials to grasp the malfeasance of the imaging cuts contained in the Deficit Reduction Act and to institute a moratorium. Here, we publish the comments of Kirk Lawson, executive director, River Radiology... Read More »

Desperately Seeking Leadership

February 15, 2007 | The Big Picture

I have visited some 40 radiology practices or imaging center organizations in the past six months, and a recurring theme in the questions that I am asked regarding business strategy relates to the somewhat elusive notion of leadership in this profession of ours. That is, leadership within these organizations themselves... Read More »

Can an EMP Reduce Center Operating Costs?

January 15, 2007 | NONE

In light of the Deficit Reduction Act, which went into effect in this month, many imaging practices and physician offices that provide diagnostic imaging services, are looking for ways to reduce their operating costs. Some practices are looking at reducing staff; while others are evaluating every line item of... Read More »

New Year’s Resolutions

January 15, 2007 | NONE

With the new calendar year comes the annual opportunity to make our New Year’s resolutions. While these generally tend to be personal pledges for self-improvement such as going to the health club more, getting more organized, or eating better, why not use the fresh year to make some... Read More »

The Importance of the Marketing-Operations Synergy

January 15, 2007 | NONE

Twenty plus years ago, as imaging gradually began its trek away from hospital environs, outpatient services rarely included a market effort. Today, outpatient imaging marketing is more than a rapid-report cannon fire in the war of what’s new. It boasts brand, distinction, top-of-mind awareness, and positioning. Back then,... Read More »

Denial, Disbelief, and Anger

January 15, 2007 | The Big Picture

One can no longer sugarcoat or deny the fact that radiology is a profession under siege. Many of those that I met with this past year across the country were scrambling simply to make sense out of the DRA cuts and in the process find ways to offset the... Read More »

Noted Author Describes “A Whole New Radiology”

December 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

In the many strategic planning retreats that I have facilitated for radiology groups during the past couple of years, I have used as a basis for generating strategic and visionary thought a remarkable book whose author outlines a vision of our society’s transformation—and the implications for medicine—... Read More »

The CRO: On Reimbursement Watch

November 15, 2006 | NONE

Sometimes I joke with people who ask me what I do for a living. “I am a crow,” I reply. I recently joined the administrative team of Inland Imaging in Spokane, Washington, and fill a slightly different and (hopefully) value-added role for the company. While most Spokanites have heard... Read More »

Financing Challenges for the Post-DRA Era

November 15, 2006 | NONE

The pending implementation of the DRA reimbursements cuts has been looming over the diagnostic imaging industry for the past year. Although there has been hope for a fourth quarter moratorium on the implementation on these cuts, we encourage all those to be effected to manage their business planning under... Read More »

The Old New Competitive Weapon

November 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

It was sometime during the spring of 1985 when I had the chance to meet in Boston with the person who coined the term CIO. Bill Sinnott was at the time was one of the only Chief Information Officers in the country and from his vantage point at the Bank... Read More »

Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer

October 15, 2006 | NONE

With the fierce competition we are confronting in imaging, this advice has never been more applicable. How well do you know your competition? In a previous column, I discussed the importance of efficient operations for survival. However, internal operational efficiency is only half the battle. Growing and maintaining a... Read More »

Imaging’s Unsung Heroes

October 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

I have the best job in the world. In the past month alone, I visited 10 outpatient imaging facilities as part my ongoing relationships with clients all across the country. It is an incredible privilege for me to see so many differing operations throughout the year and to be involved... Read More »

Attention, All Campers

September 15, 2006 | NONE

Much has been said and written about the significant economic effect the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) will have on the imaging industry. For many, imaging expansion plans have been stopped, development or equipment sales departments have been downsized, and equipment purchases and upgrades have been placed on hold... Read More »

Imaging’s “Hail Mary” Moment

September 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

You know the scene. The big football game is down to the final two minutes and the score in the cross-town rivalry is agonizingly close. The only way for our favored team to win is to launch a last-minute pass down field in the vain hope that amidst the... Read More »

Survival of the Most Efficient

August 15, 2006 | NONE

As demand for imaging continues to grow, so too do the challenges of running an efficient and viable radiology practice. Competition is fierce, utilization scrutiny is intensifying, radiologist shortages continue, turf battles are becoming more and more prevalent, and reimbursement challenges loom darker and darker. How will radiology practices... Read More »

A Matter Of Perspective

August 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

An old saying has it that where you stand on a particular issue depends on where you sit. In other words, one’s point of view is heavily dependent on one’s frame of reference and milieu.

A case in point: not too many years ago I... Read More »

The Radiology Imperative

July 15, 2006 | NONE

The number of radiology procedures ordered in the United States continues to increase at an unrelenting pace. Studies now suggest that at least one in ten residents currently receives a computed tomography (CT) scan each year and one in twenty undergoes a magnetic resonance scan (MRI). So where is... Read More »

The Incredible Shrinking Growth Market

July 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

The literature is full of case studies detailing how business lifecycles at varying points in the maturity of markets affect growth curves and levels of sustainable profitability. This is an exercise that goes well beyond analyzing the impact of the DRA on MR and CT profitability and plays to... Read More »

Whither Self Referral?

April 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

There is a wonderful scene in the book Sho-Gun in which a Portuguese pilot helps save the life of an English pilot when both are in a treacherous part of the world, far from the sea-based battleground where their respective countries battle for turf supremacy. Since the two find... Read More »

Hand Wringing Is Not a Solution

April 15, 2006 | The Big Picture

I was impressed by the crowd. Not just the fact that there were over 100 imaging center executives, radiologists and administrators gathered, but with the fact that they all came to the RCG Healthcare symposium in Las Vegas at the end of March to get serious about their future. There... Read More »