Management

This page includes content on healthcare management, including health system, hospital, department and clinic business management and administration. Areas of focus are on cardiology and radiology department business administration. Subcategories covered in this section include healthcare economics, reimbursement, leadership, mergers and acquisitions, policy and regulations, practice management, quality, staffing, and supply chain.

Increasing Efficiency via Transparency: Quantum Imaging and Therapeutics

IMP

Quantum Imaging & Therapeutic Associates, Inc, a 40-radiologist practice in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, faced a problem common to radiology groups in the post-DRA era: improving efficiency without decreasing the quality of its interpretations. Elizabeth Bergey, MD, CEO of the group, says, “Radiologist efficiency and efficacy are based, somewhat, on internal factors. Everybody has his or her own personal work ethic, and in any population, there will be some variation.

Working Smarter

IMP

The topic of efficiency in radiology is both politically and emotionally charged. Improvements in radiologists’ productivity are increasingly critical to financial viability, but cannot be achieved at the expense of clinical quality, especially at a time when quality will be increasingly closely linked to reimbursement. Further, any radiology group that begins tracking (or even providing incentives for) efficiency risks an uphill battle, in terms of changing the culture of its business.

Sequester Arrives with 2% Cut to Medicare and No SGR Fix in Sight

Although Medicare spending is shielded from the largest across-the-board mandated cuts known as the the sequester, the cuts will still total $11.1 billion for fiscal 2013

MMP Turns 20

The founders of the Atlanta-based medical billing and practice management company credit MMP’s core value of partnership with clients as the underpinning for the company’s two decades of growth

NEJM Study Supports Greater Use of CT Lung Cancer Screening

The NEJM research and findings by the journal Cancer that 12,000 lives alone might be saved using more conservative criteria supports advocates' arguments for expanding testing criteria and payor coverage

Merge No Longer for Sale

Last September, Merge Healthcare asked an investment banking firm to solicit offers for the company, but its CEO said last week that it is no longer looking for a buyer

RamSoft Launches its Cloud Offering in Canada

Toronto-based RamSoft's PowerServer Cloud Canada will offer imaging centers and hospitals a secure PIPEDA-compliant cloud-based RIS/PACS that it says will be more affordable because it will not require a major IT investment in onsite servers and can be launched in a matter of weeks

ACR Dose Index Registry Surpasses 5 Million Scans

The ACR says more than five million CT scans and nearly three million exams have been added to its Dose Index Registry™, bringing the ACR closer to establishing national benchmarks for CT dose indices