Affiliate of private equity-backed radiology provider LucidHealth names new practice president
An affiliate of private equity-backed LucidHealth company named a new practice president on Wednesday.
Michelle J. Romero, MD, is assuming the leadership role at Radiology Associates of Hartford in Connecticut. A board-certified physician and New Jersey native, she completed her residency in diagnostic radiology at Rutgers University, where she served as chief resident.
Romero takes over the role following Michael Firestone, MD, who will remain with the practice as an “integral member of the physician team,” according to an announcement.
“Dr. Romero’s experience and her passion for providing excellent patient care will be instrumental in Radiology Associates of Hartford’s growth and success,” Mark Alfonso, MD, chief medical officer for Columbus, Ohio-based LucidHealth, said in a statement. “We are grateful to Dr. Firestone for his role as recent practice president and his commitment to patient care.”
Romero completed her fellowship training in breast and body imaging at UConn Health, later serving as a faculty member and clinical instructor. She then joined Radiology Associates of Hartford as a staff physician in 2015, also filling the role of secretary from 2020 to 2023.
Physicians first founded LucidHealth in 1980, with Excellere Partners backing the imaging group in October 2016. The Denver-based private equity firm bills LucidHealth as one of the largest physician-owned, outsourced providers of radiology services in the country. LucidHealth services hospitals and outpatient facilities across seven states in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast, also offering a proprietary workflow software solution. Altogether, its network has 148-plus sites of subspecialized care logging over 2.4 million studies, according to LucidHealth.com.
Radiology Associates of Hartford, meanwhile, was founded in 1976 and has five offices across Connecticut.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.