Why in the world would two radiology practices competing for business in the same market consider sharing market information, revealing operational and performance data and—most counterintuitively of all—combining forces and resources in a joint venture (JV)?

It’s been half a year since RadAnalytics last heard from Scott Luchs, MD, president of Ramapo Radiology Associates in New York State’s Hudson Valley.

Some years back, already plenty old enough that I should have known better, I injured my right thumb playing pickup football. It hurt like a sonofagun, but I thought the pain had more to do with the detached thumbnail than the bone. 

Two independent radiology practices in New York’s Hudson Valley have finalized a plan, three years in the works, to form a joint venture and begin actively inviting other groups to climb aboard. 

McKesson’s business performance services division has won the business of Elmhurst Radiologists, a 12-doc practice operating within 259-bed Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, part of the three-hospital Edward-Elmhurst system outside Chicago.

The largest daily newspaper in Nevada has done radiology a kindness. On a Sunday in late March, the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday circ: 200,000-plus), ran a feature article titled “Radiologists play a key role in modern medicine.”

I’ve worked in radiology IT leadership for more than 20 years, but over the past year and a half, I’ve learned more about all three—radiology, IT and leadership—than in the previous 18 years combined.

Two mandates are driving U.S. healthcare policy: improving quality and reducing costs. At vRad, leadership has embraced these concepts and integrated them into its corporate mission.