As radiology’s marketplace has achieved maturation, practices—more than ever—can (and should) take their cues from other industries, according to Curtis Kauffman-Pickelle, CEO of imagingBiz and a longtime consultant to radiology practices. “Radiology, as an institution, needs to look to successful models in businesses outside of medicine—the models

In the 1990s, it was easy to be a success. You had to work hard not to be a success. That’s not true any more,” according to Michael P. Recht, MD, Louis Marx professor of radiology at New York University School of Medicine and chair of the radiology department at NYU Langone Medical Center (New York, New York).

Three factors distinguish big data from the analytics that many executive leaders are familiar with: volume, velocity, and variety. In a recent article that appeared in Harvard Business Review, McAfee and Brynjolfsson1 make the distinction and open a window on how two companies are harnessing big data to make more accurate predictions, better decisions, and more precise interventions—on an accelerated timetable.

Every once in a while, a big idea floats, like a sweet vapor, across the popular consciousness, invading every corner of US life, from science to commerce to entertainment. Curr-ently, our society (and business, in particular) is smitten with big data, and to be accurate, its reach is global, even unto health care.

Patient engagement in health care (or patient-centered communication, as it’s often called) has been compared to marriage, where the relationship between care seeker and caregiver is based on trust, respect, openness, and empowerment.

A decade after starting Diagnostic Professionals, Inc (DPI), Claude Hanuschak, its COO, still refuses to let federal payment policy thwart his success. When faced with a 35% reimbursement reduction due to implementation of the DRA, the 30-year radiology veteran and president/COO of the four-site Florida imaging-center chain responded with a resolve to become more efficient, largely through a reliance on appropriate technology.

If the triple aim—improved access to better-quality health care at a lower cost—is the goal of health-care reform, then patient-centered care is its soul. Throughout the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the authors took precautions to protect patients from the abuses of 1990s-era managed care, when profits appeared to trump patient care.

Managing emergency-department volume is a perennial challenge for hospitals, and at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center (SMRMC) in Reno, Nevada, emergency-department volume is only expected to grow, according to Helen Lidholm, CEO. “We’re assessing what our emergency-department volume is going to look like, based on what we know about our community and how our local patient population will be affected by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” she says. “Every community is different, but we’re anticipating higher volume in the emergency department.”