Rad Partners aims to take ‘chores of healthcare’ off radiologists’ plates
Radiology Partners has signed a deal with a Dallas-area vendor as it aims to take administrative burdens off its busy physicians’ plates.
The partnership is with IKS Health, which typically takes on the “chores of healthcare”—including clinical documentation, care team assistance, and pre-visit summaries. This allows physicians to “focus on their core tasks of care delivery.”
RP will utilize the generative artificial intelligence-powered Care Enablement Platform. Those involved said this will allow the El Segundo, California-based organization’s dozens of practices and over 3,900 radiologists to “offload nonclinical tasks to improve workflow and create capacity.” The partnership comes as “demand for medical imaging continues to grow faster than the available workforce,” the two noted.
“By reducing administrative burdens and optimizing processes, we are seeking to create an environment where radiologists can focus on what they do best—providing exceptional patient care—making RP a place where radiologists can choose to practice at the top of their license,” Rich Whitney, MBA, CEO of Rad Partners, said in an announcement from IKS. “Our collaboration with IKS Health will allow us to streamline workflows, improve clinical capacity, and ultimately enhance our ability to deliver timely, high-quality care to our clients and patients.”
The partnership comes as RP and other radiology groups face challenges fulfilling contracts or taking on new business due to staffing shortages and high demand. Rad Partners company vRad, the largest teleradiology group in the U.S., has prioritized increased volume across existing partnerships following a busy summer, Radiology Business reported in August. RP affiliate Desert Radiology also ended its long-running partnership with University Medical Center of Southern Nevada last year amid reported physician turnover. And the private equity-backed practice also wrote to the Medicare program in September, noting that burnout among radiologists has become “widespread,” due to declining pay and increasing nonclinical obligations.
“Our goal is to help relieve RP radiologists of administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on their core strengths—delivering excellent care and diagnostic insights,” IKS Health CEO Sachin Gupta, who founded the company in 2006, said in the same announcement.
Inventurus Knowledge Solutions (IKS) Limited also is eyeing an initial public stock offering, filing a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Along with Coppell, Texas, the company has offices in Los Angeles, North Carolina, Ontario, Mumbai, Australia and elsewhere.
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.