Today’s imaging market is substantially different from that of earlier years; payment is less secure, coverage for new technology is more difficult to obtain, and government and private oversight are increasing. After years of uninhibited growth and development, the imaging sector now faces unprecedented scrutiny that will probably change the way

Radiology practices create the largest number of new accounts per month of any specialty within a health care delivery system. On average, a practice reading 500,000 examinations per year would generate 35,000 new accounts per month. The billing issue that confronts every radiology practice is achieving a balance between processing costs and

As any PACS administrator can attest, the cost of advanced imaging technology is higher than the price of a new CT or PET scanner. As the number of DICOM images attained per scan increases exponentially, software and hardware alike have a hard time keeping up with the load; no matter how powerful your PACS, without the back-end server power

The world of outpatient imaging changed suddenly when Congress passed historic legislation known as Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005. Almost immediately, professional organizations began lobbying efforts to delay implementation of this legislation for two years so that companies would have time to prepare for this devastating event. Most

Prior to 2007, medical practices that developed and used imaging facilities on an exclusive, full-time basis were not overly scrutinized by payors or regulators. In addition, physician practice arrangements that were properly structured to allow the practice to use the imaging facility on a part-time basis (such as block leasing) were also quite

Radiology practices and hospitals historically have operated under the assumption that the cost of transcription is part of the technical component, and therefore the responsibility of the hospital, or the entity that owns the technology. While there have been periodic attempts by hospitals to charge radiologists for transcription services in the

It has been said that the number one is the loneliest number, and it just may be that it is getting a whole lot lonelier. Illustrating this, the recently released 2007 Verispan Diagnostic Imaging Center Market Report features a section that depicts a dramatic change in the number of imaging centers describing themselves as being affiliated with

As marketing assumes a more prominent role in the evolution of imaging centers, perhaps the most important part of the marketing mix is good, old-fashioned customer service. After all, the very nature of the specialty is such that it does not lend itself to radiologist-patient interaction, so these crucial human interactions are delegated to people