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.

Regulatory Update: September 2010

Radisphere

CMS plans to implement a two-year Medicare Imaging Demonstration Project [PDF] that will test whether decision-support systems can promote the appropriate ordering of imaging services using criteria established in current medical-specialty guidelines. The project will focus on MRI, CT, and nuclear-medicine diagnostic-imaging services. The 11

Better Breast-imaging Workflow: UCSF Case Study

When the women’s imaging department at the Mount Zion campus of the University of California–San Francisco (UCSF) began transitioning to full-field digital mammography, workstations were implemented to enable radiologists to manage the digital workflow. The very technology that was intended to harness the potential of digital imaging, however,

Imaging’s 21st-century Challenges: Decentralization, Digitization, and Distribution

In many ways, the challenges facing imaging in the 21st century are similar to those facing other industries: decentralizing both staff and workplaces; digitizing data; and distributing those data in a way that is efficient, cost effective, and secure. Anthony Toppins, MD, musculoskeletal radiologist with American Radiology Associates, Dallas,

Radiology Lobby: Advocacy for High Stakes on Capitol Hill

Not every lobbying effort on the part of the imaging industry is a success. When the DRA was passed, for example, radiology took a hit; reimbursements were pared, and the industry emerged feeling that its rapid growth had left it with a target on its back.

Business 101: Goal Execution for Radiology

This article is the third installment in a four-part series on applying basic business concepts to radiology. To read the first installment, click here; to read the second, click here.

Users’ Guide: Due Diligence for Acquisitions

While there are many motivations to pursue an acquisition candidate, all acquirers share a common goal: increasing their net worth. The buyer evaluates opportunities to select acquisitions where the present value of the future economic benefits received is most likely to be greater than the purchase price. The goal of the due-diligence process is

Community Hospital Makes Strategic Post-reform Decision

In the aftermath of imaging reimbursement cuts and health care reform, provider organizations are looking at how to do more with less, and making purchasing decisions that position them to be able to accommodate the widest range of patients. That’s why Brian Wetzel, RT, CNMT, radiology administrator at 267-bed Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, New

A Hospital C-suite Reality Check

A few converging issues have recently revealed a fissure in the otherwise strengthening position of hospitals and health systems in the competition for outpatient-imaging supremacy. I have written volumes about the importance of building a two-way, give-and-take model in hospital–radiology group relationships so that both parties can thrive. The