Like most radiology practices nationwide, Pueblo Radiology Medical Group, based in Santa Barbara, California, is facing the imperative to do business differently than in the past. Wayne Baldwin, CEO of the 18-radiologist practice, attributes the shift to changes in the regulatory environment that have made today’s radiology marketplace anything but “business as usual.”

Many radiology practices, by now, have been persuaded of the importance of deeper alignment and integration with their hospitals and health systems. Jana Landreth, director of practice management for Zotec Partners, says, “If your hospital approaches you wanting this, you need to embrace it. Going into this with reluctance or hesitation will not move your relationship forward, and the odds are that you will wind up doing it eventually anyway. If you embrace it now, you will be able to set the goals with the hospital and make them realistic for what your practice can achieve.”

If you work in radiology group practice, it’s likely you are considering your market position and evaluating whether you should be growing—if you haven’t expanded already. Depth of subspecialization, round-the-clock service and economies of scale are all necessities for imaging in markets experiencing consolidation. In short, if your hospital and health system customers are increasing in size, you should be as well.

HR 3705 would require clinicians to utilize clinical decision support tools to help them adhere to appropriateness criteria for advanced imaging

The bipartisan budget deal the House debates today would continue the 2% across-the-board sequester on Medicare payments through 2023 and pushes out the timeline for repealing the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for calculating Medicare physician payments

Although operating revenue declined in 2013, the value of the total assets of the American College of Radiology (ACR) continues to climb

New Federal spending figures have prompted the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to reduce its estimate for the total cost of repealing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine finds that 18.4% of the lung cancers detected with low-dose CT in the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial may have been indolent