Harris County Hospital District (HCHD) is the public health-care system for the nation’s third most populous county (Harris County, Texas); with 44 locations, it generates 420,000 radiology procedures and 70,000 cardiology procedures each year. When HCHD made the decision to expand its electronic medical record (EMR) to include PACS and other

As radiology practices nationwide look for new revenue streams to compensate for ever-declining reimbursement, the answer might be getting back to basics, according to Greg Thomson and Dan Simile Jr of Medical Management Professionals, Inc (MMP), Atlanta, Georgia. In the first installment of a four-part series on critical business principles,

Imagine the situation facing radiology practices and their changing market relationships as multiple, concurrent chess matches. In order to reach a respectable outcome without getting swept away by the convergence of moves coming in rapid succession from prepared opponents, radiologists need to understand that this particular game is strategic, not

The indefinite path to qualifying for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act funds just came into greater focus, but it’s not to everyone’s liking. At the end of December 2009, HHS released two notices of proposed rule making that specify, in numbing detail, the definitions of terms associated with the meaningful use of

With a health IT stimulus package valued at $19 billion1 in play, one of the least controversial subjects in the health-reform debate is the potential of health information exchanges (HIEs) to lower health care costs while improving efficiency and quality of care. A handful of players in health IT have been developing some form of exchange for a

In an attempt to aggregate health information beyond the proprietary realm of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, Frank C. Clark, PhD, MUSC’s vice president of IT and CIO, currently is spearheading efforts to partner with several other health care organizations in the area to form a health information exchange (HIE).

Health care is a business like no other because its very purpose is to extend and improve quality of life. It is a business, nonetheless, with revenues and costs, and with bills, lenders, and employees to pay. A common phrase, among even the most charitable of not-for-profit health-care organizations, is no margin, no mission. I am proud of the

Hospitals are keeping a wary eye on Washington, and on several key payor trends with major implications for imaging service lines, for good reason.