The most common approach to succession planning among radiology practices is no approach at all, according to David Myrice, CPA, MBA, director of practice management for Zotec Partners.

Consolidation in the imaging world is often viewed as problematic—but shifting market forces can create opportunities to improve patients’ access to care, points out Kevin Collins, vice president of product management with Sectra.

The ever changing landscape of outpatient diagnostic imaging is compelling operators to have a keen understanding of market conditions in order to appropriately assess the potential return on investment on capital investments to upgrade or replace major imaging equipment. 

On October 1, 2014, healthcare practices will be required to use a revised version of the International Classification of Diseases code: ICD-10.

In a recent Journal of the American College of Radiology: JACR article, 1 Richard Heller III, MD, MBA, a radiologist with Radiology Partners and chairman of radiology at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, proposed a framework for understanding radiology-group value (based on specific health-system needs). He calls it the total value equation. 

As radiology groups continue to contemplate the transition from fee-for-service to value-based medicine, the question of what constitutes value is central to their plans for the future—and unearthing the answer begins with understanding the needs of hospitals and health systems in evolution, according to Geraldine McGinty, MD, MBA, chair of the ACR® Commission on Economics.

In November 2013, Virtual Radiologic (vRad) released its initial set of radiology patient-care (RPCSM) indices, the first findings-based benchmarking measures for imaging activity and utilization based on the global practice’s clinical data repository. Jordan Halter, vice president of solutions for the company, says, “With 23 million studies and growing, vRad’s database reflects practicing radiology on a large scale. That means that we have insight that reflects the national radiology market. vRad wants to use these indices as a way to start a dialogue in radiology. Everyone must start measuring value, quality, and performance as we transition from a fee-for-volume to a fee-for-value model. Until now, nobody quite knew how.” 

Despite hopes for high enrollment through the health-insurance exchanges (HIEs) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the numbers are well below forecast levels as the March 31 enrollment deadline approaches.