Elliott Jeter, CFA, CPA/ABVSignificant market trends, over the past few years, have affected the competitive environment between hospitals and physician-owned freestanding imaging centers. The primary drivers of these trends are the relative weaknesses of a large number of freestanding imaging centers (caused by changes in reimbursement and

When Saint Michael’s Medical Center (SMMC), Newark, New Jersey, was acquired by Catholic Health East in 2009, the organization had some catching up to do in the IT department: With no PACS or electronic medical record (EMR), its clinical-informatics capabilities were behind the times. Angelo Schittone, vice president and CIO of SMMC, explains that

Charge reconciliation—the practice of identifying procedures that have slipped through the cracks at some point in the charge process and billing for them to optimize revenue—is important for any medical group, but particularly critical for imaging. Radiology is one of the most high-volume specialty areas in terms of both codes and procedures

In the Journal of the American College of Radiology: JACR, Reiner and Siegel¹ recommended 12 measures that could reduce the commoditization of radiology.

The responsibility for the phenomenon has been placed, at one time or another, on the shoulders of just about every stakeholder in the imaging field. Some say that payors are to blame; others see the growing prevalence of remote reading as the culprit. Has the expansion of IT made it possible, or is radiology merely catching up with other areas of

Do you love your job? I’m not talking about every hour of every day, waking or sleeping, rain or shine—I know that there are times when all of us get frustrated with the ebb and flow of the daily routine. Do you generally care, though, about the choice that you made at the start of your career? If you’re reading this column, you are one of roughly

You know the tale. In the end, the steady pace of the tortoise won out over the supreme confidence and sheer speed of the hare; the hare simply did not value the focus, commitment, skill set, and tenacity exhibited by the tortoise. There are lots of lessons to be learned from this story, and over the years, most of us have learned how to apply at

Leading an independent radiology practice has never been more challenging. Congress has escalated the timetable for reductions to the outpatient-imaging technical component to help pay for health-care reform. Health systems have embarked on a medical-practice–buying spree across specialties and primary care, leading to some very well publicized