Business Intelligence

Providers utilize business intelligence to monitor referral patterns and collaborate with clinicians who order their services. Such analytics tools have also been deployed in the specialty to improve productivity, track patient satisfaction and bolster quality.

Two Studies Find Cause for Optimism in Health Care Cost Growth

Whether the slowdown in health care spending is just a silver lining to the overall slowdown in the economy or if it is due to structural changes in how health care is delivered is no small matter

ACR Honors Senator Vitter for Support of Radiology

Senator David Vitter (R-La.) received the American College of Radiology's Congressional Award for Radiological Excellence (CARE Award) for his championship of radiology issues in the Senate

Bills to Repeal MPPR Pick Up 15 New Sponsors

Twelve Representatives and three Senators added their names to legislation to remove the multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) on the professional component of imaging

Looking Forward and Looking Back: On 20 Years in Imaging

MMP

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 would move to capitation. As time went by and things settled down, there was a period of rapid growth in radiology, primarily driven by advances in imaging technology.” G. Darrell Hulsey, president and CEO of MMP, concurs. He says, “Clinically, radiology has made significant advances in the past two decades, all contributing to better and more streamlined care.”

Inside the Hospital–Radiology Contract of the Future

Optimal

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 that contracts need to be individualized to fit the relationship and to reflect current priorities,” Krent says. “It has to be a fluid process, with the contract continually updated to reflect how needs are changing and risk is shifting.”

Six Steps to Improving Patient Satisfaction

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

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: What It Isn’t, What It Is, and How to Do It Better.” He says, “It’s all about the patients’ experience of how they were treated as human beings. It’s about their perceptions of the caring they received during their clinical journeys.”

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

VMG

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 surrounding how professional payments are determined after the transaction, collection irregularities or other problems with revenue recognition, and management and governance issues for the newly joint-ventured or acquired imaging center. All four of these transaction deal-breakers, however, can be avoided through understanding, preparation, commitment to communication, and setting expectations.

Change the Conversation

Here’s a confession: Though a bit of a snob about most of what’s on television these days, I’m obsessed with AMC’s “Mad Men.” I’ve watched every episode more than once, analyzing each for hidden meanings and recurring themes; I even read recaps online in case there’s anything I missed. An oft-repeated truism on the show, trotted out when its ad executives are dealing with clients in difficult situations, is: If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation. I wonder, sometimes, what the creative geniuses of the fictional ad agencies of “Mad Men” would make of imaging’s biggest current problem.