One hallmark unites the winning entries in the top five medical-imaging IT projects of 2012, cosponsored by Radiology Business Journal and the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM): Each project represents a view beyond the traditional acquisition, archiving, and communication of radiological images. All of the winning entries take a

A key referrer had not referred any patients to a New York radiology practice in more than a week. This highly unusual circumstance prompted a visit by the radiology practice’s physician liaison, who left the referrer’s office shaking her head in disbelief at the cause of the downturn: The referrer’s staff members had tried to fax orders to the

The need for improving communications in radiology is well understood, but optimizing interactions with referring physicians is where it gets tricky. In a 772-bed tertiary-care teaching hospital and level I trauma center, the call for increased face time must be balanced, supported, and made optimal through the smart use of electronic tools.

High-tech communication in 2012 is undeniably fast and efficient, but does it build trust? Among referring physicians who rely on radiologists, the question transcends the objective nature of science and drifts into the subjective world of personal relationships.

Stephen Chang, MD, discovered his interest in health policy as part of an educational program initiated not by radiology mentors, but by radiology residents. Today, Chang, who is completing his fellowship training in breast and body oncology imaging, is an ACR® Moorefield Economics and Health Policy fellow, but as a resident at Columbia University,

Radiology has come a long way in terms of education in business practices and health-care policy, with residency-training requirements in competencies related to these subjects in place for more than a decade. Further commitment to and innovation within these curricula are warranted, however.

When Sumer Sethi, MD, started his radiology site in 2004, the word blog was still a relatively recent invention, a shortening of the more formal term weblog. “In different fields, people had started to use weblogs as platforms for communicating with readers without the need for an expensive platform or publishing house,” Sethi (editor-in-chief of

In reviewing a schematic diagram of the integration points of the imaging information systems of Kaiser Northern California (Oakland), Richard (Skip) Kennedy, MS, bewails the current state of point-to-point integration in health care. Not only is this approach inefficient, time intensive, and wildly expensive, it’s not working very well.