RadNet canceling nonessential travel, implementing new center protocols in response to COVID-19
RadNet leaders said Thursday that they’ve banned all nonessential corporate travel and encouraged the company’s 8,000 employees to work from home, where possible, to limit exposure to the coronavirus.
The Los Angeles-based imaging giant has also trained personnel across its network of 335 centers on emergency protocols, in case a patient shows up with the disease. And it has contingency plans in place, in case the outbreak causes a labor shortage at any of its facilities, leaders said March 12 on RadNet’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
President and CEO Howard Berger, MD, said they’ve experienced some weakening of imaging volume recently, as worries about the virus have intensified. However, those vary on a market-by-market basis, with patient visits holding up “well” throughout California, along with “very little impact” in Maryland and New Jersey, for example. More “substantive” disruption, meanwhile, has occurred in its New York markets, he added.
“Given the somewhat precipitous developments here in the last week to 10 days, we have not, as yet, been able to estimate what the impact of the coronavirus circumstances will be on our centers,” Berger told investors. “Fortunately, we had a very robust January and February and it was only at the very beginning of March that we began to see some softening of our volumes, relative to our budgets.”
He added that RadNet does not currently plan to decrease staffing nor its revenue forecasts in response to the virus.
“I think we’re just going to have to wait this out and see, not so much what’s happening now, but how long the effect of coronavirus policies will impact us and, for that matter, everyone else,” Berger said. “At this point in time, we haven’t factored anything into our forecasting or changed any of our staffing volumes, as our centers are still very busy in all markets, including New York.”
Chief Financial Officer Mark Stolper further noted that their human resources team has been focused on the issue for weeks. They’ve created a “robust” communications program for both patients and referring physicians, along with their internal team members. That includes imposing new patient screening scripts, which they’ve trained their schedulers and front-office personnel on, using CDC best practices. They’ve also recorded messages going out to all patients and referring physicians, detailing that if individuals are showing symptoms they should visit their doc, rather than a freestanding imaging center. Likewise, they’ve amended sick day policies and encouraged ill employees to stay home.
Despite any COVID-19 concerns, RadNet reported “record” earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019. That included $300.8 million in revenue, up 17% from the same period in 2018, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $46.9 million (up 5.5%).
RadNet also reported notable upticks in imaging volume when compared to the same period in 2018, including MRI (6.7%), CT (9.3%), and PET/CT (13.6%).
All told, the nation’s largest provider of freestanding, fixed-site diagnostic imaging services—based on the number of locations and annual earnings—reported $1.15 billion in revenue for 2019. That represents an 18.4% uptick from the previous year, alongside a 15.8% increase in EBITDA, up to $164.1 million.
RadNet also announced Wednesday that it’s acquiring “leading” artificial intelligence DeepHealth for 2.5 million shares of its stock.
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.