The CMS Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is again the center of attention for the medical community. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill passed in December 2007 averted the last SGR-mandated cut by funding a 0.5% update for six months. We are, however, once again at the precipice of unprecedented, and arguably untenable, physician

There is little question, and ample evidence, that merger-and-acquisition activity in the diagnostic imaging business sector has increased since the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) in 2005, and since Medicare Physician Fee Schedule changes and IDTF Standards changes in 2006 and 2007. Many in the prognostication business have been forecasting some sort

A lesson in business maturity: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer met the company's cofounder Bill Gates when they were both undergraduates at Harvard. Gates dropped out to build one of the most successful companies in history. Ballmer went on to graduate from Harvard and eventually ended up at Stanford, in the graduate school of business. By the time

The number of freestanding diagnostic imaging centers opening in the United States has slowed considerably as markets have become increasingly saturated and reimbursement has declined. That’s why, more than ever, it is important to consider carefully the feasibility of opening a new center. One way to weigh the potential risks and benefits—and to

An adage of the legal profession holds that if you’ve seen one contract, you have seen exactly one contract. That is never truer than when the contract in question is between an imaging center and a payor, even though 90% of the agreement’s language will have been cast from boilerplate used over and over. Norm Davidson is president of Provider

Contract negotiations with payors formerly were a lengthy process. Not any more; they are concluded now in half the time because payors have stopped telling radiology groups to take it or leave it and, instead, are simply saying, “Take it.” Payors seem to hold all the cards in any bargaining over reimbursement rates. Mark Kleinschmidt, CEO of St

A couple of years ago, the CEO of a $100-million company was presiding over a conference call with about 16 senior members of several divisions of the company. The CEO mentioned something that he had written on his blog in order to start a discussion of the topic. What he initiated, instead, was silence. Stunned, he asked, “Is anyone reading my

While radiology practices and imaging center operators spend heavily on marketing liaisons to help cement favorable referral patterns, few understand the role that hands-on PACS IT support can play.