INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 25, 2014) – Zotec Partners (Zotec), the industry leader in hospital-based physician billing and practice management services, has resumed its “Zotec Partners University” program this week in its new state-of-the-art training facility. 

A report on the first annual list of the 20 largest radiology-services companies

Sorting out who’s who in radiology professional services is no easy task

CMS today announced that it would initiate a National Coverage Analysis on lung cancer screening with low-dose CT.The action was taken in response to two formal requests to initiate the NCA, one from Peter B. Bach, director, Center for Health Policy and Outcomes, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the other one came from Laurie Fenton Ambrose, president & CEO, Lung Cancer Alliance.

It’s a question on the minds of many in the imaging community: How can a specialty with very little patient interaction built into its workflow improve its service to patients? As an emerging practice model, patient-centered radiology has a nice ring to it, but as Greg Thomson, CPA, executive vice president with Zotec Partners, notes, “This represents a major cultural leap for radiology. Radiologists have long had multiple customers—including referring physicians and hospitals—along with patients, and because they often do not interact with patients, their focus has been on the referring physicians, not the patients. It is a mindset shift for the specialty.”

Like most radiology practices nationwide, Pueblo Radiology Medical Group, based in Santa Barbara, California, is facing the imperative to do business differently than in the past. Wayne Baldwin, CEO of the 18-radiologist practice, attributes the shift to changes in the regulatory environment that have made today’s radiology marketplace anything but “business as usual.”

Many radiology practices, by now, have been persuaded of the importance of deeper alignment and integration with their hospitals and health systems. Jana Landreth, director of practice management for Zotec Partners, says, “If your hospital approaches you wanting this, you need to embrace it. Going into this with reluctance or hesitation will not move your relationship forward, and the odds are that you will wind up doing it eventually anyway. If you embrace it now, you will be able to set the goals with the hospital and make them realistic for what your practice can achieve.”

If you work in radiology group practice, it’s likely you are considering your market position and evaluating whether you should be growing—if you haven’t expanded already. Depth of subspecialization, round-the-clock service and economies of scale are all necessities for imaging in markets experiencing consolidation. In short, if your hospital and health system customers are increasing in size, you should be as well.