Nation's Largest Practices Enjoy Size Premium, Survey Finds

As medical imaging volumes flattened and practices trimmed costs, size emerged as a differentiator in a report on the annual survey to rank the nation’s 100 largest radiology practices, co-developed by the Radiology Business Journal and CliftonLarsonAllen. “For the first time, size became an undisputed factor in the practice's ability to succeed in the marketplace in 2012,” says Cheryl Proval, editor of Radiology Business Journal. “This was suggested by multiple indicators. We also saw evidence of an increasingly competitive market, with hospital contracts down in all size categories except the very largest.” The ranking was increased from 75 to the 100 largest radiology practices this year, and broadened to include known large practices as well as those that self-reported on a broad range of data points, including number of hospitals, number of imaging centers, and percentage of revenue spent on IT, a new data point in 2012. “This year marks a milestone in our annual ranking of the nation's largest private practices,” says Curtis Kauffman-Pickelle, Radiology Business Journal publisher and CEO, imagingBiz, Tustin, Calif. "Readers will find it to be our most complete and accurate list yet, expanded this year to 100 practices. We're calling them the Radiology 100." Practices also appeared to be strategically growing by merger and new hires in order to compete in the current competitive radiology market: The percentage of groups representing the largest size cohort (> 65 FTE radiologists) represented 15% of the 100 practices compared to 11% in 2011. “As we see the number of larger groups grow, I predict that in the next five years, we will see some mergers of the largest groups in the country,” predicts Joseph P. White, CPA, MBA, partner, CliftonLarsonAllen, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Radiology 100 survey is sponsored by Intelerad, Montreal, Canada, which provides medical imaging business solutions for radiology practices, hospitals, and imaging centers. Read the full report here.