Last January, UnitedHealthcare, Edina, Minn, became the first insurer in America to require nationwide accreditation for all outpatient-imaging providers, effective March 2008. The mandate applies equally to all outpatient providers of MRI, CT, PET, nuclear medicine, nuclear cardiology, and echocardiography. Providers have a choice of being

As if radiologists were not facing sufficient challenges of late, they now are seeing increasing interest from cardiologists seeking to promote the sharing of certain studies. In some hospital settings, the cardiologists ask for an exception to the radiologists’ exclusive contract, so that the cardiologists can serve as additional interpreters of

Allowing physicians, whether they are referrers or outside specialists, access to an outpatient radiology practice’s PACS is a subject that is being discussed with increasing frequency among CIOs.

In 2002, Norwalk Radiology—like many radiology practices across the nation—reached a crossroads. Prepare to invest in expensive new digital mammography technology or stop doing mammograms. In fact, more mammography centers in the U.S. closed than opened between 2001 and 2004, but in Norwalk, Conn, practice president Allan Richman, MD, rightly

As the medical imaging industry is well aware, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), effective January 1, 2007, directed severe reductions in payments for many imaging services in the physician office and independent facility setting. Under the DRA, the payment for the technical component (e.g., equipment, non-physician personnel, supplies, and

The outpatient imaging enterprises of Premiere Health Partners, Dayton, Ohio, and Robinson Memorial Hospital, Ravenna, Ohio, could not be more different. The three-hospital health system, for instance, opened 6 imaging centers within nine months and partnered with three radiology practices. The county hospital went solo, with one imaging center and

After enlightening attendees about the new players in the outpatient imaging field, and educating them on where the growth potential exists, Michael Silver, PhD, read outpatient radiology the riot act in the concluding segment of his talk: “You have to know your market,” advised Silver, vice president, Sg2, the Skokie, Ill-based health care

Scott Arant, CEO of American Health Imaging (AHI), a 20-center chain based in Decatur, Ga, started operations in June of 1998 in Decatur, Ga, an eastside suburb of Atlanta, with an open MRI, as did many other entrepreneurs around the nation. The facility flourished in short time, and AHI sold a portion of the company to private investors to further