Radiology’s reinvention: 4 lessons from the management consulting industry

It’s no secret that radiology is at a turning point in 2016. The industry is rapidly shifting toward a focus on quality-based healthcare, and radiologists are doing everything in their power to define and demonstrate the value of their services.

According to a recent analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, this puts radiologists in a unique position within the healthcare industry.

“By definition, we radiologists are consulting physicians, similar to our colleagues in medical and surgical specialties,” wrote Alexander S. Misono, MD, MBA, Massachusetts General Hospital department of radiology, and colleagues. “We survive on referrals and are valued predominantly on our ability to provide consultative expertise. However, unlike our colleagues, we are typically disconnected from our patients and may become increasingly distanced from them in new care delivery models. As radiologists seek to optimize their position within this brave new world, we may benefit from understanding experiences in analogous industries outside of health care.”

Misono et al. explained that there’s one industry radiologists should pay especially close attention to at this important moment in the profession’s history: managing consulting.

“Ultimately, the best radiologists mimic the best consultants and serve as chief assistants to clinicians in the management of disease,” the authors wrote. “As such, we must remember that our most valuable role may be the one we’re already playing: that of a consultant.”

These are some examples of what the managing consulting industry can teach radiologists, as provided by Misono and colleagues:

1. Know Your Clients

Consultants study their clients and learn so much about them that they can often predict their needs. According to Misono and colleagues, this is one area where radiologists can improve: putting considerable time and effort into truly understanding their clients.

“As radiologists, our true clients are almost exclusively physicians,” the authors wrote. “If we are to achieve a seat at the proverbial table, our colleagues must view us with a sense of essentiality. Just as Fortune 100 CEOs have consultants on speed dial, we too must be on speed dial with our referring clinicians. To achieve this, we must move beyond simply providing high-quality imaging services and also offer customized and specialized imaging that will enhance our referring clinicians’ ability to deliver optimal and efficient care.”

2. Adapt and Invest in Growth

Management consulting firms have reinvented themselves numerous times over the years. For example, clients once reached out to these firms for analytics; today, clients more commonly seek solutions to specific problems.

Radiologists also know a thing or two about reinvention, Misono and colleagues wrote. And the profession must now prepare for the years ahead.

Some radiology practices have prepared for the future by divesting interest in certain fixed assets, the authors explained. Using data from the Radiology Business Journal’s annual Radiology 100 ranking of the largest private radiology practices, Misono et al. highlighted Radiology Associates of North Texas, which went from 14 imaging centers in 2011 to 2 in 2014.  

“Such divestitures enhance radiologists’ ability to be nimble both financially and strategically,” the authors wrote. “As health systems consolidate, radiologists may find themselves managing fewer client relationships, making satisfying each individual health system’s needs all the more important. To succeed, radiologists, as have consultants, must leverage their flexibility and successes to become indispensable to clinicians in all areas of the hospital.”

3. Optimize Your Core Assets

Consultant firms take the professional development of their core assets—their people—very seriously. And radiology groups should have the same approach, the authors said.

Performance reviews, for instance, should be more than just a manager with a checklist. To review an employee’s performance is to document deficiencies, suggest improvement plans, and look at the employee’s entire body of work instead of just the clinical results.

New hires should also be treated better, Misono and colleagues explained. Do not “burn and churn” them.

4. Win

The management consulting firm wants its clients to succeed so that, at the end of the day, that firm can succeed. And if the firm does a poor job, sometimes it goes out of the consulting industry altogether. As Misono’s team explained, radiologists have those same pressures.

“Some radiology groups will fail to keep up,” the authors wrote. “This has undoubtedly already started to happen. Individual radiologists as well as groups that fall from relevance may find their services no longer requested. Meanwhile, the best radiology groups will likely go the way of the top consulting firms, turning into indispensable consultants and, thereafter, market leaders.”

This should serve as motivation for all radiologists, the authors concluded. If your practice fails to take the proper actions, it very well may have to close its doors for good.