In an illustration used for hospital clients, analyst Shay Pratt pinpoints imaging centers for sale around the country: four independents on the market in California, a four-center chain in Kansas, and a larger chain in central Florida with an asking price of $22.5 million. The list, with size and price variations, continues from coast to coast.

Of all the issues facing today’s imaging executives and radiologists, none sounds more cacophonous than the nearly universal cry that the United States spends too much on its health care. We do, indeed, allocate quite a bit more to health care, at 16% or so of the gross domestic product (GDP), than other nations do. By way of comparison, Japan, a

There is perhaps no greater indicator of an organization’s cultural health than the degree to which members of the group—really, a community—trust one another. It is the case in large as well as small groups. Indeed, with individual relationships between two people, if there is no trust, there truly is no relationship. When groups have trust, they

In the not-too-distant past, the use of imaging as an endpoint in clinical trials was at best considered a novel approach by pharmaceutical and device manufacturers alike. The times, however, are changing, and bringing with them a new revenue stream for the radiology community.

Digital mammograms are now being delivered at more than 50% of the mammography sites in the nation. While the technology was validated in the US National Cancer Institute’s Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial,1 the small statistical advantage of digital over analog mammography was found primarily in younger, premenopausal patients with

Medicare has proposed a 19% overall reimbursement cut for radiation oncology, contained in the proposed physician fee schedule for 2010, and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) responded by surveying members to determine how these cuts would affect physician practices and patient care. The results were sobering.

In the multifaceted world of oncological imaging, there is no shortage of sophisticated technology: The missing element is more likely to be old-school communication. Vertically integrating the specialties of radiology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, and surgical oncology is one strategy being used to facilitate physician communication. It

Some US employees still enjoy Cadillac-style health plans in which little is paid out of pocket and coverage includes almost every health need, but health care costs for its workers helped send Cadillac maker General Motors into bankruptcy. Moreover, for every worker or family with a Cadillac plan, there’s a family with big deductibles, limited