Accuracy in radiology can be difficult to gauge; even interpretation, as the term for a radiologist’s work on an imaging study, suggests shades of gray. To quantify accuracy better, 12 years ago, the radiology department at Monmouth Medical Center (Long Branch, New Jersey) launched a project in which it cataloged its attending radiologists’

There are performance attributes that we measure well in today’s radiology practice. We are adept at tracking and analyzing clinical productivity, various revenue indicators, and compliance with programs such as meaningful use and the Physician Quality Reporting System. We have the ability to correlate profitability with payor mix, and we can

As radiology practices around the country become increasingly reliant on business analytics and intelligence for decision-making support, the time is ripe to begin devoting additional attention to refining the processes by which their measurements are generated, according to Bill Pickart, CEO of Integrated Medical Partners (IMP). “It is imperative

After consulting for the practice for several years, two years ago, Robert Cannistra joined Radiologic Associates PC (Middletown, New York) as its director of IT. Like many in the informatics field, Cannistra says, he was surprised by the unique challenges that health-care providers face when he first began consulting for hospitals and health-care

As a neuroradiologist, Ray Kirk, MD, president of Greater Houston Radiology Associates (GHRA) in Texas, often considers both the financial and clinical futures of the specialty. “Where radiology is today,” he says, “there is a need to make ourselves more relevant to the patient-care process in the eyes of our customers—hospitals, referring

With radiology practices increasingly facing the imperative to function as businesses, dashboarding has become a favorite buzzword—but what does it really mean? It is our contention, at Integrated Medical Partners, that dashboarding is a widely misunderstood concept. A practice’s business intelligence is about much more than the visually pleasing

Radiology-practice alignment with hospitals and health systems has never been a simple proposition, and recent years have seen the severance of long-standing ties between hospitals and the practices that served them. Simultaneously, however, conditions in the US health-care market have made alignment between the two parties a more promising

Multiple factors have coalesced recently to create the ideal environment for improved radiology group–hospital alignment, including regulatory upheavals, economic pressure, and changes in reimbursement. The alignment pressures have resulted in much discussion concerning group consolidation. Frequently, this consolidation takes one of three forms: