Statread Bloggers Cover RBMA
Cheryl Proval - Vice President Publishing
Cheryl Proval is vice president of publishing for imagingBiz and editor of Radiology Business Journal, RadInformatics and HealthCXO. In 2006, she helped launch the monthly e-journal ImagingBiz.com with Curtis Kauffman-Pickelle. In 2008, they launched a next-generation print journal, Radiology Business Journal.
Prior to joining imagingBiz, Cheryl served as publisher and editor of Imaging Economics, a position she held for nine years. A 35-year veteran of the publishing industry, she graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor’s degree in History, and she continues to be intrigued by the stories that shape our world.
Cat Vasko - Editor
Cat Vasko is the editor of ImagingBiz.com, RadAnalytics, HealthIT, Medical Imaging Review and an accomplished writer whose in-depth features, news, and case studies are familiar to readers of all imagingBiz publications. She launched the company’s meeting-coverage blog, StatRead, in 2008, and is the resident social-media expert, maintaining the imagingBiz Facebook page and delivering regular tweets to the industry via Twitter. She holds a master’s degree in English from Boston University.
DataMAXX: You’ve Got to Give a Little
by Cheryl Proval on May 28, 2013The RBMA took the opportunity to soft-launch its new data warehouse, DataMAXX, at the recent Summit, and the good news is that it is free—almost.
If you want basic reports only, the cost of participating is to contribute your data to run unlimited number of customized reports. If members do not want to contribute, then the cost is $500. Premium reporting also entails a fee, but offers more flexibility in sorting the data by size of practice and geography.
A Cure for Commoditization
by Cheryl Proval on May 27, 2013Quality was on the tips of many tongues last week at the RBMA meeting in Colorado Springs, yet quality continues to be enigmatic. We have the CMS measures—PQRS, Hospital Compare, Physician Compare, MOC, and PQI, ACR accreditation for outpatient imaging centers—and the private payor measures, most notoriously represented by prior authorization.
What radiology considers quality is less defined and, to date, falls into three categories: subspecialization, critical results communication, and accuracy. On the sold-out RBMA exhibit floor, eight teleradiology companies offered subspecialty reads, and one information technology company—eRad—offered a web-based, cloud-hosted distributed reading
MOC: Who Me?
by Cheryl Proval on May 26, 2013Don’t be surprised if some intergenerational strife emerges in your practice around whether or not to participate in the maintenance of certification program—not to mention some accounting complexities.
It’s well known that radiologists who passed their board exams prior to 2002 hold lifetime certificates and are not required by CMS to participate in the program. However, CMS is strongly encouraging those lifetime certificate holders to participate in MOC by offering bonus incentives that will transition to penalties in 2015.
Viability of the Private Practice
by Cheryl Proval on May 24, 2013If you think radiologists are spooked by the physician-acquisition trend among hospitals, then consider the unease it provokes among practice executives. The subject of practice independence was a running theme throughout the RBMA Summit in Colorado Springs this past week, in the session rooms—but also in sidebar conversations.
In a particularly relevant session titled “The Captive LLC: Gaining Strategic Alignment While Retaining Independence,” Medical Management Professionals’ Ed Gaines and David Myrice posed this line of reasoning for negotiating a co-management agreement or a captive LLC: If integration can be achieved without dissolution of the practice, why
Imaging Legislation in the Election Cycle
by Cat Vasko on May 24, 2013No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, odds are you’re not thrilled with how you’re represented on Capitol Hill. In RADPAC’s Congressional and political update at the RBMA conference this week, further evidence was presented for your ongoing disillusionment.
First a bit of context for the uninitiated: RADPAC is the political action committee of the ACR and the fourth-largest health care PAC on the Hill. Through education, lobbying and targeted donations, RADPAC attempts to advance the interests of imaging in DC, and in years past has had enormous success waylaying further reimbursement
It’s Not About Billing, Anymore
by Cheryl Proval on May 24, 2013Taylor Moorehead, Zotec regional partner, was giving RBMA 2013 Summit attendees a test drive on the company’s cloud-based CZAR analytics tool, a work-in-progress. The solution is designed to give practices more data, in real-time, exportable (and importable) in Excel, so that no one has to wait until the end of the month to discover a month’s worth of dropped charges due to an interface that stopped working when the RIS was upgraded (you know it happens).
Show Me the Money (Every Which Way)
by Cheryl Proval on May 24, 2013Radiology practice executives are no longer satisfied with a data dump from their billing providers. They want data visualization, and, increasingly, the people running the nation’s practices and hospital radiology departments want flexibility. That’s the word from the exhibit floor at the RBMA Summit, which wrapped up in beautiful Colorado Springs earlier this week.
Bill Gilbert, marketing VP, AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions, Warren, NJ, says that many of his clients are satisfied with the ability to go into the company’s web-based dashboard that updates daily, create a report once by customizing column heads
Leadership in Imaging: Looking Ahead
by Cat Vasko on May 23, 2013The topic of leadership in imaging has been heavy on the community’s mind of late. New programs, like the ACR’s Radiology Leadership Institute, are springing up with the goal of incorporating business education into radiologists’ busy schedules, and there have been passionate calls in the academic press for medical schools to incorporate health policy into their curricula for radiologists in training.