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 the emphasis on growth raises some challenging questions, from a practice-management perspective. He says, “As you grow from being a small practice to being a large one, management becomes much more challenging. In some ways, it can be a luxury to be small.”

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 of the metrics we track are the same ones people have been tracking for years, but we do it differently,” Potok says. “Among other things, we make the information instantly accessible to everyone.”

In the last issue of RadAnalytics, I wrote about productivity and efficiency, with an emphasis on keeping an eye to quality. I believe that those group practices that figure out the key to improving individual radiologists’ productivity (as well as overall group productivity) while adhering to patient-centered quality objectives will thrive under the new collaborative reimbursement models that we are seeing in the market.

The aggregation and utilization of data in health care has two sides, according to Lynn Gibson, vice president and CTO of Christus Health, Irving, California. The first, and most in focus, is the provider’s; the second, less emphasized but equally important, is the patient’s. “Health care is on a rapidly changing path,” he says, “and data-driven analysis is necessary for both the caregiver and the patient. We have to be able to collect the pertinent information to support both sides and make it available to both the patient and the clinician.”

Successful health-care organizations will reengineer both their structure and processes as reimbursement shifts towards managing populations, and measurements are required to both support this transition and document its value, according to Jake Nunn. Radiology’s diagnostic role in the continuum of care provides a unique opportunity for participation in this transition, he says.

In a February 2013 article for JACR: The Journal of the American College of Radiology entitled “Culture Shift: An Imperative for Future Survival,” Lawrence R. Muroff, MD, CEO of Imaging Consultants Inc, outlined how radiology’s culture needs to evolve to meet the changing demands of US health care. “I think the overwhelming majority of radiology groups believe that what has worked for them in the past will continue to work—that if they just stay the course, they’ll be fine,” Muroff says. “Most groups don’t respond to change until something dramatic happens, at which point the pain of maintaining the status quo exceeds the pain of changing.”

Patient engagement in health care (or patient-centered communication, as it’s often called) has been compared to marriage, where the relationship between care seeker and caregiver is based on trust, respect, openness, and empowerment.

A decade after starting Diagnostic Professionals, Inc (DPI), Claude Hanuschak, its COO, still refuses to let federal payment policy thwart his success. When faced with a 35% reimbursement reduction due to implementation of the DRA, the 30-year radiology veteran and president/COO of the four-site Florida imaging-center chain responded with a resolve to become more efficient, largely through a reliance on appropriate technology.