In these Days of the DRA, imaging centers are keen to be lean. The question is, do you have your bases covered? In addition to strategies for cost savings and revenue enhancement, an imaging center with a need or desire to improve performance should review its organizational structure. Each position and person in the entity has roles and responsibilities. The question to address today is: How do I approach understanding and aligning my organizational structure with my goals for growth?

RCG has identified four organizational Domains of Decision-making:  

• Strategy includes providing leadership and creating the organization’s vision and goals.  The Strategist aligns people and is forward-looking.
• Planning designs and prioritizes initiatives to meet the organization’s vision and goals. The Planner establishes direction and leverages infrastructure.
• Implementation holds accountability for project plans: timelines, teams, budgets, etc; in other words, ensuring that initiatives are completed and also holds accountability for performance metrics. The Implementer motivates and inspires.
• Day-to-Day focuses on productivity and customer service, monitoring daily workload, volume and workflow. The Day-to-Day sustains performance.

For any particular imaging center, these domains may overlap. For example, in a larger organization, the CEO and radiologists together set strategy, the CEO and managers plan, the managers implement, and the front line staff handle day-to-day operations. Alternatively, in a smaller setting, these domains may overlap somewhat. Whatever the size of the operation, the key is that too many gaps between domains may mean re-defining positions or even the organizational structure; too much overlap between domains may mean that more staff will be needed in the near future.

RCG’s Domains of Decisionmaking is a tool you can utilize to quickly assess if you have the right person performing the right job. Create a chart with the domains and map your employees. Identify where you need coverage, where you have too much. Will you be prepared for the bases loaded, bottom of the ninth?