Amid staffing challenges across the specialty, Radiology Partners added 650 physicians alongside 62 new client sites in 2023, the industry giant announced Monday.
The figure represents Rad Partners’ “most successful recruitment effort in a single year” since its founding 2012 and reflects the practice’s “tremendous growth.” Leaders estimated that the company has logged an average retention rate of 93%, with nearly 2 percentage points tied to attrition from radiologist retirements.
New clinical sites added last year represented about 1.75 million annual RVUs, with another 1 million “on the implementation schedule” for 2024.
“While not immune to the persistent external challenges facing healthcare providers—from Medicare physician payment cuts and the continued impact of the No Surprises Act implementation to inflation and interest rates—RP will utilize its scale and leverage growth opportunities over the year ahead to combat these challenges,” the El Segundo, California-based company said in a Feb. 12 announcement touting its 2023 achievements.
S&P Global highlighted some of these challenges in a ratings action published last month. Grappling with a heavy debt burden, Rad Partners has been running cash flow deficits for the past two years. To strengthen its financial picture and flexibility, the practice has sought to raise $300 million in preferred equity and reschedule debt due dates.
Rad Partners also touted other achievements in 2023. Over the previous year, the company saw a 59% increase in the number of local physician groups using “best practice recommendations”—evidence-based guidelines aimed at improving consistency of imaging follow-up care. This represented roughly 3,100 radiologists using the recommendations, with this segment demonstrating improved adherence to clinical best practices compared to baseline.
“By supporting our radiologists and referring physicians with best practices, advanced tools and effective workflows, we’re able to elevate patient care together and create even more value for our partners,” Chief Medical Officer Krishna Nallamshetty, MD, said in the announcement.
Rad Partners also touted its large-scale deployment of AI tools, impacting more than 25 million annual exams. The practice recently launched an AI platform with Amazon Web Services and is offering the service to other healthcare organizations.
Radiology Partners employs over 3,600 physicians who service 3,300 hospitals and outpatient facilities across all 50 states. Radiologists own about 33% of the company, with private equity firm Whistler Capital, venture capital group New Enterprise Associates and the Australian sovereign wealth Future Fund holding the balance.
Gavin Slethaug, MD, RP’s associate CMO of growth and executive VP of practice partnerships, also recently penned an opinion piece for MedCity News, detailing how private equity can help practices achieve scale.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.