PCORI Punt is More Than a Bit Ironic

January 26, 2012 by Lena Kauffman

Those waiting to see if the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) would make any facet of radiology part of its initial focus were disappointed—or relieved—Monday when the independent research organization issued its first set of research priorities.

The five research “priorities” issued by this Accountable Care Act created organization were so vague in nature and low on specifics that almost any comparative effectiveness research could qualify as something the institute would consider funding. You can click here for a PDF of the full report. Skip to the research agenda part and you’ll find that PCORI will focus on funding research on comparisons of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment options.

Really? After two years and multiple board member meetings at costly hotel conferences across the country is that all the institute’s leaders could come up with?

Contrast this with the independently...

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Money, the Fairest Incentive of All

January 23, 2012 by Robert Cooke

Having the government provide incentives, or even penalties, is a proven way to force markets—not just in the United States, but globally, whether digital x-ray in France, or digital archiving in Japan. All of these legislative efforts dramatically changed the market landscape and competitive playing field.

Even as far back as the emergence of the first PACS, the incentive to adopt this technology was based on a business imperative. Money makes the world go round, as some might say.

So as a business, the incentive is obvious. Make money. Of course to do so, you must deliver on and keep the promise of differentiated value to your customers, have a mission, etc, etc, etc, but along the way, you better watch your pennies.

Enter business intelligence (BI), a tool used—or should be—to regularly track indicators about business performance, including simulators...

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New Year’s Resolutions for Radiology

January 06, 2012 by Cat Vasko

It’s a new year for radiology. As a recent analysis in JACR reminds us, since the DRA cuts to imaging took effect in 2007—has it really been five years?—the industry has seen a cascade of changes. Provisions of the HITECH Act and health care reform legislation continue to take hold, prompting an array of dramatic responses from hospitals and practices: sales, joint ventures, mergers and consolidation, all motivated by the underlying imperative to do more with less.

With so much to handle on a day-to-day basis—meaningful use! Reimbursement cuts! Coding changes! Managing self-pay patients!—it can be hard to step back and think of the big picture. But as multiple thought leaders underscored at RSNA, big-picture thinking is more important than ever for a specialty in the crosshairs.

With that in mind, I suggest radiology come up with some new year’s...

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