Whether given incentives by the continued cuts in reimbursement levels or by the desire to monetize an operating asset, radiologists in the market continue to sell their imaging centers to buyers of many kinds—for-profit imaging-center owner/operators, for-profit hospitals/health systems, and not-for-profit hospitals/health systems, among others. Although the sale of the imaging center transfers all (or a portion of) the ownership to the buyer, there are still opportunities for radiologists to remain involved in the business. Specifically, many radiologists continue to provide exam interpretations and/or specific management services.

As the momentum concerning accountable-care organizations (ACOs) continues to mount, forward-looking radiology groups already are anticipating participation in bundled-payment initiatives, according to Ed Gaines, JD, CCP, chief compliance officer for Medical Management Professionals (MMP). “There are large hospital systems, nationwide, that have been running bundled-payment models for years, and there are significant data out there about the improved outcomes and lower costs that can result from these models,” he says. “Radiology is not being confronted with the problem just yet, but there is growing recognition that the specialty needs to be prepared and educated on the subject.”

Boca Raton, Florida, became a competitive market for medical imaging when entrepreneurial nonphysicians began opening freestanding imaging centers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Carl Rosenkrantz, MD, a radiologist with West Boca Medical Center (WBMC), recalls. “In South Florida, hospitals were reluctant, early on, to get into the outpatient imaging center business, and a tremendous number of nonphysicians got into the business just to make a profit,” he says. “A huge amount of marketing was done concerning them, and patients became accustomed to going to these freestanding centers that were not hospital affiliated.”

When Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath devastated New York, New York, in October 2012, perhaps no one was more vulnerable than the patients needing care in area hospitals. Eli Tarlow, CIO of the city’s Bellevue Hospital Center (BHC), recalls, “It was the best of times and worst of times—a natural event that no one could have prevented. You really see the best of your staff in moments of crisis, and that held true during Hurricane Sandy. Staff members at all levels volunteered to do anything necessary, from bringing needed supplies up and down many flights of stairs to helping with preparing or delivering food for patients. Nothing came between the employees and the work that needed to be done to maintain patient care.”

Jeff Maze has spent his career attempting to solve the conundrum at the core of business intelligence and analytics: the more data there is, the harder it is for operational leaders to understand and act upon. “Everyone has data. This is the era of big data,” Maze, who is senior manager of business intelligence at Zotec Partners, says. “But data does not mean the same thing as information. The key is taking data and making it timely and actionable, baking your own insight and experience into it, and turning it into wisdom.”

Radiology’s business environment has changed considerably since the heyday of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the equation for success was comparatively simple, Paul Staveteig, MD, says. “Now, the environment is different,” he explains. “The only way to survive in this marketplace
is to be able to look at things very critically and make decisions very quickly.”

Imaging Healthcare Specialists (“IHS”), a 30-radiologist practice based in San Diego, California, has a simple ethos driving its business decisions. “We view ourselves, first and foremost, as a medical practice,” Thomas Cleary, president and COO of Imaging Health- care Specialists, explains. “Every day, every employee who works for us is making an impact on patients’ lives.”

Medical practices have arrived at a juncture where the importance of business intelligence to strategic planning and growth cannot be ignored, says Scott Law, founder and CEO of Zotec Partners. “Physicians are, first and foremost, scientists, and historically they have focused on the science of their discipline as opposed to the business side of medicine,” he says. “In the current environment of evolving health care delivery and reimbursement models, the key to survival is finding ways to differentiate yourself—not only through productivity and efficiency, but also through quality and improved outcomes, which we are really beginning to be able to measure for the first time.”